Punisher: War Zone [Special Edition] [Includes Digital Copy] [Blu-ray]

Director: Lexi Alexander, Jonathan Hensleigh Lexi Alexander

Overview

Marvel Comics' vigilante character The Punisher gets another big-screen outing in this third film incarnation of the character, this time from Green Street Hooligans director Lexi Alexander. Fueled by revenge and aided by his trusted weapons expert, Microchip (Wayne Knight), vigilante Frank Castle (Rome's Ray Stevenson) turns the New York City streets red with blood as he takes down each and every member of the crime syndicate responsible for the death of his wife and two kids. As the law-appointed "Punisher Task Force" closes in on him, the antihero does battle with Billy Russoti (Dominic West), aka Jigsaw, a nickname given by him to reflect the disfigurement handed to him by Castle. With the help of his psychotic brother, Loony Bin Jim (Doug Hutchison), Jigsaw recruits the criminals of the city to band together to bring down The Punisher, using the wife (played by Dexter's Julie Benz) and daughter of a slayed FBI agent as bait. Art Marcum, Matt Holloway, and Nick Santora provide the screenplay for the Lionsgate release.

Product Details

Release Date:	03/17/2009
UPC:	0031398107125
Original Release:	2008
Rating:	R
Source:	LIONSGATE - 600000-AEC LGE
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Stereo, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround]
Language:	English
Time:	1:43:00
Sales rank:	14,624

Special Features

Training to become the Punisher; The Making of Punisher: War Zone; Creating the Look of Punisher: War Zone; Meet Jigsaw; Weapons of the Punisher; Audio Commentary with Director Lexi Alexander and Director of Photography Steve Gainer; Theatrical Trailer

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Ray Stevenson	Frank Castle/The Punisher
Dominic West	Bill Russoti/Jigsaw
Dash Mihok	Det. Martin Soap
Julie Benz	Angela Donatelli
Wayne Knight	Microchip
Colin Salmon	Paul Budiansky
Doug Hutchison	Loony Bin Jim
T.J. Storm	Maginty
Stephanie Janusauskas	Actor
Mark Camacho	Actor
Romano Orzari	Actor
Keram Malicki-Sánchez	Actor
Ron Lea	Actor
Tony Calabretta	Actor
Cas Anvar	le chirurgien esthétique
Carlos Gonzalez-Vio	Carlos
David Vadim	Cristu Bulat
John Dunn-Hill	Cesare
Niko Nikolov	Pompiliu
Aubert Pallascio	Tiberiu
Francis B. Goldberg	la madame Gordlock
Pat Fry	Asylum Orderly
Matt Holland	EMT
Christopher Franke	Composer
Michael Wandmacher	Composer

Technical Credits

Lexi Alexander

Matt Holloway

Art Marcum

Nick Santora

Kurt Sutter

Lexi Alexander	Director,Screenwriter
Matt Holloway	Screenwriter,Screenwriter
Art Marcum	Screenwriter,Screenwriter
Nick Santora	Screenwriter
Avi Arad	Producer,Executive Producer,Producer
Gale Anne Hurd	Producer
Kevin Feige	Executive Producer
Jeremy Latcham	Executive Producer
Oliver Hengst	Executive Producer
Bill Johnson	Executive Producer
Ogden Gavanski	Executive Producer
Michael Paseornek	Executive Producer
John Sacchi	Executive Producer
Ernst-August Schnieder	Executive Producer
Jack L. Murray	Producer
Gary Ventimiglia	Producer
Bobbi Banks	Sound Effects
Catherine Bellazzi	Sound Effects
Louis Desparois	Sound Effects
Nick Foley	Sound Effects
Deborah Aquila	Casting
Jonathan Hensleigh	Director
Jennifer Smith	Casting
Kurt Sutter	Screenwriter

Editorial Reviews

Third time seems to be the charm for the skull-emblazoned Marvel Comics vigilante, who punishes his way across the screen in a gory gas of squishy violence with Punisher: War Zone. Rarely have moviegoers seen such a two-fisted wrecking ball of vengeance as the one realized here by Ray Stevenson. Built like a fridge, with fists that go through faces and an arsenal to blow off any crook's head that comes near, this Punisher couldn't be more different than the Tom Jane or Dolph Lundgren incarnations that came before. Much of the same can be said of the movie, which takes ultra-violence to a new level, injecting a bit of the black humor of the Garth Ennis MAX series and mixing it with the visceral abandon of Stallone's fourth Rambo film. Of course, not everything is rosy underneath the blood-red veil of this violent escapade. For any missteps the film does make, War Zone more than makes up for it by taking no prisoners and being what it is: an excessive blast of action where brawn wins over brains and sober morality messages are left for other, weightier comic-book properties. Just as in the Incredible Hulk reboot, this kick-start wastes no time in laying out origins. The story begins with a gangster meeting gone horribly wrong, as the vigilante known as The Punisher single-handedly takes out a Mafia boss along with his corrupt dinner guests. Fleeing the scene is Billy Russoti (300's Dominic West), a recent ex-con and connected mobster who's cooking up a deal to bring biological weapons into the country. Inevitably, The Punisher tracks him to his hideout and opens a can of hurt on him and his men, fatally wounding an undercover FBI agent in the process. As Frank Castle, the Kevlar-suited protector of the innocent, flees the scene, Russoti is left forever scarred, paving the way for him to become the ultra-villain Jigsaw. Now, burdened with remorse, The Punisher vows to protect the family of the slain agent, even if it means teaming up with the local law enforcement's "Punisher Task Force" to do so. With the help of his weapons man, Microchip (Wayne Knight), Castle takes on Jigsaw and his psychotic brother, Loony Bin Jim (Doug Hutchison), in a fight to the death, where only the guilty will be punished. Loaded with double-barreled mayhem, War Zone is a coup de grâce of cartoonish violence and knowingly over-the-top performances. In particular, West excels as the nightmarish goomba Jigsaw, injecting each scene with a gleeful swagger that's deliciously campy for those looking for a throwback to dastardly villains of old. In fact, much of the film walks the fine line of deliberate, straight-faced preposterousness. What helps is the style of the picture; director Lexi Alexander has given the Big Apple a heightened reality not only with the movie's exaggerated traumas, but with the color palette as well. Playing like an aesthetic toss-up between Blade 2 and a bit of Dick Tracy, Alexander and cinematographer Steve Gainer transform the dark crevices of a subway stop into a green-hued hideout, with another stellar sequence occurring in a church filled with a sea of multicolored candles. The mix of garish violence and artistic ambition makes for a fascinating combination -- one that's altogether unexpected in an adaptation of such a straight-ahead action hero. Furthermore, the choice of director is inherently interesting given the film's theatrical cut. One would think that Julie Benz would have been given a meatier role under the watchful eye of a female at the helm. By the time her character is kidnapped at the end, astute viewers might wonder if her original role had been nabbed as well. Also on the minus side, War Zone is hobbled by the questionable amount of jarring metal tunes, in addition to needless comic relief in the case of the Det. Soup character. Played with a confusingly imbecilic nature by Dash Mihok, the performance and character are entirely out of place, even in such a ludicrous film as this. Still, this slight misstep is nothing compared to the embarrassing opera-singing fat-guy funnyman sidekick from Jonathan Hensleigh's 2004 outing, so maybe audiences should feel lucky this time around. In the end, War Zone will delight those who have been yearning for The Punisher to deliver in such a gory gas as this. Sure, it's not a stripped-down Death Wish for the serious-minded adult crowd, but that's not what every comic-book movie needs to be in the post-Dark Knight, pre-Watchmen movie world. For once, fans are not severely punished by a Punisher flick; that in and of itself says a whole lot about this future guilty pleasure.