The Punisher

[Taylirious]

I am wondering what people think. I enjoyed the 2004 movie a lot but since there was no sequel with Thomas Jane and then there was War Zone with Ray Stevenson was there something wrong with Jane? The Dirty Laundry short was awesome with him.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Punisher_in_film

Here are trailers & the short...

[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umYvv7K4Z_I[/yt]

The Punisher (1989)

[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNT92z4NGSQ[/yt]

The Punisher (2004)

[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=liABMxEvPAc[/yt]

The Punisher - War Zone

[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWpK0wsnitc[/yt]

The Punisher #DirtyLaundry

So the question is...Are the others better than the T. Jane 2004 movie?

 

[Turtletrekker]

IIRC, Jane backed out of War Zone because he didn't like the script.

 

[Mage]

The only one I haven't seen is the one with Stevenson. I like the Lundgren one for what it was, an 80's action flick. The Jane one was actually not half bad, and had some great moments.

 

[Reverend]

Thomas Jane seems to me to have the best handle on what Frank Castle is all about and since iirc Marvel now has the rights back, I'd really like to see them do a new Punisher film with Jane. Just like Guardians and Winter Soldier proved that they can do massively diverse genres within the same continuity of film, I'd like them to take a chance and do a hard R rated Punisher movie.

Or even better, an HBO style series using Dirty Laundry as the blueprint. Somewhere between the old Incredible Hulk/Fugitive format and a gristly, 70's exploitation revenge flick.

 

[Taylirious]

IIRC, Jane backed out of War Zone because he didn't like the script.

I didn't know that. I assumed it was because it(2004) didn't do as well as the studio wanted.

ETA:

Or even better, an HBO style series using Dirty Laundry as the blueprint. Somewhere between the old Incredible Hulk/Fugitive format and a gristly, 70's exploitation revenge flick.

That would be cool.

 

[JoeZhang]

The Punisher film with Jane was OK as a revenge flick but didn't really feature the character - what with the convoluted revenge scheme.

 

[kirk55555]

I really like the 2004 Jane verson (and the short he was in). The Lundgren one was really only Punisher in name only, and War Zone had the violnce, but the story (what there was of it) was bad and the Punisher had no personality (more of a script problem than a problem with Stevenson I think, but I still like Jane better regardless).

Edit:
Also, when I voted in this thread, this happened

 

[Marsden]

Whatever they do, I hope they don't reboot the character and have an origin. It's the Punisher! Just start the story with the movie and stop explaining things!

 

[Enterprise is Great]

The same thing happened to me that happened to kirk55555. That was weird. As for The Punisher none of them were really good enough but I'd take the Jane 2004 version of it over the others.

 

[Gaith]

Said it before, I'll say it again: I want him as a Spider-Man movie villain. If I wanted to watch a straightforward gritty 70s-style vigilante shooter movie (which: no), I'd just do that.

 

[137th Gebirg]

Punisher vs. Captain America could always be a crowd-pleaser in a cynic vs. ideologue conflict.

Or possibly Punisher vs Wolverine with what Castle called his "grow-a-new-ass superpower" .

And, yes, Jane all the way!

 

[Reverend]

Punisher vs. Captain America could always be a crowd-pleaser in a cynic vs. ideologue conflict.

From what I understand about Punisher's character and ethos, he's liable to just stand there and let Cap punch him into a coma. In a weird way they're not opposites so much as two sides of the same coin. Cap is the ideal of what a soldier should be while Frank is (for want of a better term) the reality, at least from an ethical and moral standpoint.

Probably a more interesting pairing would be Frank and Dredd, but I can't see them making that movie any time soon.

 

[Turtletrekker]

IIRC, Jane backed out of War Zone because he didn't like the script.

I didn't know that. I assumed it was because it(2004) didn't do as well as the studio wanted.

In his own words.

An excerpt...

I am, sadly – no, make that heartbrokenly – fuck it - just rip out the heart and stomp it into the pavement a couple of times – pulling out. Punisher fans are already fighting an uphill battle as it is. And I’ve always felt a responsibility to fight that fight for them and with them so that Frank Castle gets the treatment he deserves. I'm sharing this with you because I know you're a fan, like me, and you've got your ear to the ground, and because we seem to share the same sort of taste and passion when it comes to movies and stories that get us off. What I won't do is spend months of my life sweating over a movie that I just don't believe in. I’ve always loved the Marvel guys, and wish them well. Meanwhile, I’ll continue to search for a film that one day might stand with all those films that the fans have asked me to watch.
Sincerely, Thomas Jane

 

[bbjeg]

I thought Ray Stevenson was the closets to the comics. Sadly, the villain was horrible.

The same thing happened to me that happened to kirk55555. That was weird...

Same here.

 

[Turtletrekker]

^Actually, that happened when I voted as well. Weird...

 

[Taylirious]

When I created the poll it original said it was in TOS forum??? Something is wonky!

 

[bbjeg]

^Sure, like you don't know what's going on. Stop breaking TrekBBS Taylalala.

 

[Taylirious]

I hope Disney/Marvel get Frank into their universe. I thought there was a TV series being worked on?

 

[Turtletrekker]

There was a series in development at FOX which never even reached pilot stage. Just as well, as it sounded like it would've been "Punisher-in-name-only".