For the story to work the bad guys need to be three-dimensional and Will Patton and John Travolta, both cast as the sadistic baddies, benefit from their overacting chops to construct antagonists that are as despicable as they are humane. Henseligh directs the action scenes in ways that the surroundings breathe. There’s no relentless cutting, nor is there any reason to make them too stylized, this is old-school 1970’s maverick filmmaking. A can’t miss sequence is when Castle fights a hired Russian assassin in one of the most brutal, exciting and visceral fights I have ever seen. Think “Death Wish” or “Dirty Harry” and you’ll get a feel of what it’s like watching “The Punisher” at its punchiest.Reviews were much maligned when The Punisher came out in 2004, but, in retrospect, they were wrong. Times change and, after a hundred or so comic book adaptations, Jonathan Hensleigh’s vision of what a comic book movie should be like has aged like fine wine. Maybe it’s time for more people to give this harrowing adaptation a second look because, if anything, its relevance lies in exposing the darkness of the human heart. Contribute Hire me
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