Punisher: War Zone (2008) Review

Punisher: War Zone is a violent explosion, but it still manages to balance out with other categories the way The Punisher (2004) did. But, it tries far too hard to be a great action and rarely improves upon the original. First, the character really lost a lot. Thomas Jane not only gave a stronger performance, but the new punisher kills everything. Thomas Jane's punisher was more principled and less violent. The other characters dropped in quality, too. The new punisher's friends are much less funny and interesting than Thomas Jane's. And don't even get me started on the villain. John Travolta's Howard Saint wasn't an effective villain because he was likeable and not intimidating, but Dominic West's jigsaw is an absolute joke. You can't understand a word the guy says, and like John Travolta, he's not scary. But he is actually quite funny. The story is much worse, too. We don't get to see Punisher's origin, and he didn't have much of reason for killing anyone in this movie. That made it a little hard to root for him, at least not as much as 2004's punisher. Punisher: War Zone does decent, but you wouldn't expect them to change the winning formula that made The Punisher.
Movie Rating: B