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The Punisher (2004)

Director: Jonathan Hensleigh

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From Time Out London

Just a laugh, a thrill, and plenty of sustained weapons fire.’ Thus did Marvel Comics-writer Garth Ennis introduce his muscled psycho of one-track vengeance. Yet even these intellectual ground zero expectations are disappointed in the unsteady comedy of this latest live-action adaptation, whose hootsome script seems to have blown its own brains out amid the non-stop cartoon carnage. Special Agent Frank Castle (Tom Jane) is all set for a nice beach-house retirement, before he inadvertently snuffs out the son of Tampa ‘businessman’ Howard Saint (John Travolta) – sparking a bloodthirsty, distinctly unthrilling, eye-for-eye retribution even those Ancient Greek chappies might consider a tad unrestrained. Ultimately, Frank’s victim -to-vigilante transformation is so morally unexplored it’s emotionally alienating.

Author: LZ 0000-00-00 00:00:00

Time Out London Issue 1779: September 22-29, 2004

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Cast & crew

Director: Jonathan Hensleigh

Producer: Avi Arad

Cast: Thomas Jane, John Travolta, Will Patton, Laura Harring, Rebecca Romijn-Stamos full cast

Genre(s): Action/Adventure, Thrillers

Duration: 123 mins

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