An undercover FBI agent becomes a vigilante and sets out to unleash his wrath upon the corrupt businessman who slaughtered his entire family at a reunion.An undercover FBI agent becomes a vigilante and sets out to unleash his wrath upon the corrupt businessman who slaughtered his entire family at a reunion.An undercover FBI agent becomes a vigilante and sets out to unleash his wrath upon the corrupt businessman who slaughtered his entire family at a reunion.
- Director
- Writers
- Stars
- Awards
- 1 win & 5 nominations total
- Frank Castle
- (as Tom Jane)
- Jimmy Weeks
- (as Russell Andrews)
- Tattooed Mike
- (as Russ Comegys)
- Toro Croupier
- (as Michael Francis)
- EMT
- (as William Hasenzahl)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Featured reviews
The next film sets itself up for a kick butt start. They should take a page from X2 or the Lethal Weapon series and just open the next film with a wild battle. You can grab the viewer right away and still tell your full story right after. I hope the entire cast as well as the director returns because they crafted one quality origin story here. In summary, I enjoyed everything about this dark tale.
However, this was the not the cartoon-like film I expected. It was more of a pretty brutal revenge-crime movie. It's a rough movie, pure and simple.
Believable? Of course not. Some of the action is ludicrous but the most ridiculous of all - the fight against the huge Russian, is actually the most fun of the action scenes. The rest is just plain mean as the hero's entire family gets wiped out by gunman and "The Punisher" (Thomas Jane) goes after them after almost being killed himself.
A smart aspect of this film was inserting a bit of humor in it, such as the two nerds down the hallway who befriend "The Punisher."
The sometimes-juvenile but interesting action scenes, the diverse characters in here and the humor all combine to make this better than anticipated.
No, it's anything but a thinking man's movie, but it IS entertaining and harmless if you look at everything tongue-in-cheek.
I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. I was actually impressed! (Not easy to do) The dramatic and violent story was amazingly well balanced with the comedy and one-liners. The violence was not half as bad as I expected (although the one with the guillotine and the one with the knife through the chin at the end a bit unsettling...) And I appreciated being spared explicit lovescenes or a corny romance between Frank and Joan. Even the swearing was piped down considerably.
Of course, this is not Oscar material, but the acting was satisfying, and the story not bad at all. One to enjoy...
In the picture there are thriller,frenetic action ,drama suspense, emotion and a little bit of blood and gore. Runtime film is adjusted about two hours and isn't bored because is fast moving but happen amount events and for that is entertained and funny. The motion picture has a certain resemblance with Charles Bronson films of the series ¨Death Wish¨for the matter, the avenging, thus one personage ,¨the vigilante¨ makes of judge,jury and executioner. The yarn is an adaptation from a Marvel Comics character created by Gary Conway.Previously was realized the first version with Dolph Lundgren and Lois Gossett JR that was a flop and attained lukewarm reception by the public . However this rendition has obtained many success in the box office in spite of the violence is extreme and some scenes are crude and cruel. The interpretation of the principal actors are nice but the secondary cast with the quirky bunch are magnificent. Cinematography by Conrad W.Hall(Son of the mythic photographer Conrad L.Hall)is excellent. The pic is well directed by Jonathan Hensleigh. Rating: Above average. Well catching
Did you know
- TriviaWhile filming their knife fight scene, Thomas Jane accidentally stabbed Kevin Nash. Nash accepted cold beers from the film crew as compensation. Years later Jane described the incident saying, "What made it worse was that (Nash) was so nice about it. He just sat there, looked at the knife, looked at me, and shook his head."
- Goofs(at around 26 mins) When Frank Castle's wife and child are in the Blazer trying to escape, it flips over. While flipping, the hand on the steering wheel is wearing a black bracelet, but when Maria crawls out of the car she is wearing no bracelets. The "black bracelets" are safety devices for the stunt driver, similar to what Sprint Car drivers wear to prevent their arms exiting the profile of the vehicle during "accidents" or stunts.
- Quotes
The Punisher: I leave this as a declaration of intent, so no one will be confused. One: "Si vis pacem, para bellum." Latin. Boot Camp Sergeant made us recite it like a prayer. "Si vis pacem, para bellum - If you want peace, prepare for war."
[cut to later, as Frank prepares his weapons for the final attack on Saint's gang]
The Punisher: Two: Frank Castle is dead. He died with his family. Three: in certain extreme situations, the law is inadequate. In order to shame its inadequacy, it is necessary to act outside the law. To pursue... natural justice. This is not vengeance. Revenge is not a valid motive, it's an emotional response. No, not vengeance. Punishment.
- Crazy creditsThe Marvel Comics logo features comic-book images of the Punisher in its pages; after it fully forms, it is shot three times and "bleeds" white paint which forms the Punisher's skull, and the film's title.
- Alternate versionsAn unrated extended cut was released on DVD in the US November 2006, featuring 17 minutes of additional footage, expanding the film to nearly two and a half hours at 140 minutes total.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Army of One: Punisher Origins (2004)
- SoundtracksSwing Time
Written by Daniel May
Published by Revision West (BMI)
Performed by Daniel May
Courtesy of Marc Ferrari / MasterSource
Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Languages
- Also known as
- Le Punisher : Les liens du sang
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $33,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $33,810,189
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $14,000,000
- Apr 18, 2004
- Gross worldwide
- $54,700,105
- Runtime2 hours 4 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.35 : 1
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