Plot
After his wife and family are killed, G-Man Frank Castle takes it upon himself to distribute punishment to those responsible for the vendetta.
Release Year: 2004
Rating: 6.3/10 (67,450 voted)
Critic's Score: 33/100
Director:
Jonathan Hensleigh
Stars: Thomas Jane, John Travolta, Samantha Mathis
Storyline Special agent Frank Castle had it all: A loving family, a great life, and an adventurous job. But when his life is taken away from him by a ruthless criminal and his associates, Frank has become reborn. Now serving as judge, jury, and executioner, he's a new kind of vigilante out to wage a one man war against those who have done him wrong.
Writers: Jonathan Hensleigh, Michael France
Cast: A. Russell Andrews
-
Jimmy Weeks
(as Russell Andrews)
Omar Avila
-
Joe Toro
James Carpinello
-
Bobby Saint
/
John Saint
Mark Collie
-
Harry Heck
Russell Durham Comegys
-
Tattooed Mike
(as Russ Comegys)
Antoni Corone
-
T.J.
Rick Elmhurst
-
Bay News 9 Newscaster
Ben Foster
-
Spacker Dave
Michael Reardon
-
Toro Croupier
(as Michael Francis)
Laura Harring
-
Livia Saint
William Haze
-
EMT
(as William Hasenzahl)
Thomas Jane
-
Frank Castle
(as Tom Jane)
Eddie Jemison
-
Mickey Duka
Marco St. John
-
Police Chief Morris
Marcus Johns
-
Will Castle
Taglines:
Frank Castle has died...but has been reborn as THE PUNISHER.
Opening Weekend: $13,834,527
(USA)
(18 April 2004)
(2649 Screens)
Gross: $33,682,273
(USA)
(4 July 2004)
Technical Specs
Runtime:|
(extended cut)
Did You Know?
Trivia:
Scenes were constantly scaled back or cut to meet budget requirements. Effects scenes were almost always done the old-fashioned way with old tricks replacing new CGI. Jonathan Hensleigh discusses this in the commentary track of the original DVD edition
Goofs:
Continuity:
When Saint is tied to the car and the explosions are happening, his lower half catches fire. In the next shot, he is not on fire.
Quotes:
[first lines]
Bobby Saint:
So I'm gonna get a three-to-one return on my money? Micky Duka:
Otto is the real deal. I met him at a hash bar in Amsterdam. He speaks Russian, German, Arabic...
User Review
A Pleasant Surprise
Rating: 8/10
I was surprised how good this movie was, not stupid as I figured. It's
another one of those based-on-a-comic book hero films that seem to be
popular nowadays (Hellboy, Batman, Sin City, Spiderman, Superman, etc.)
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.
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