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   Usually, right after I watch a movie, I’ll go visit IMDB to rank it and then I look at the Message Boards to see what everyone else is saying. You see a lot of the typical BS forum stuff, but normally you do get a decent sense of real criticisms of the movie as well, and that makes me think sometimes, “Hmmm, maybe I overrated this thing”.

And so with Punisher, it might be a little like that, especially because I gave it a fairy high 8/10 ranking.

Some of the criticisms were:

• Ultra, possibly pointlessly violent
• No character development
• Lousy plot

All of these things are true. At the same time I don’t give out high rankings that easily either, so I must be crazy?

I’m a big fan of Garth Ennis’ Punisher run. I’ve read all his issues, and I’m guessing, so has Kyle. And this movies gets at the core of the character that Ennis portrays: mostly silent, deadly, serious, extreme.

There is no inner conflict. There is no need save the city (as in Batman with Gotham City). Just pure punishment to the world’s evil. They all die, but absolutely no collateral damage.

Ennis writes his Punisher in way that you can watch the movie and feel like you know what Ray Stevenson’s Punisher is thinking in the movie. You understand why he did this versus that, and that he knows it was a dumb movie, but sometimes he has to do it this way…

For me, War Zone is a live action look into Ennis’ Punisher. It sometimes feels like a cheesy 80’s action movie, but it works. It entertains. It’s brutal Rated R.

8/10 on IMDB.

Trailer:

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