Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: The Punisher

This is topic The Punisher in forum Film Handlers' Movie Reviews at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Richard Greco (Member # 2032) on 04-16-2004, 08:58 AM:

I was surprised at how this movie played out. Being from the Tampa area, I was psyched to see where they shot at. I did find that to be pretty cool. I felt the action sequences in this movie were too dramatic for the type of movie it is.

There is a scene in the middle with classical music that is very stupid IMHO. It just caused the movie to drag on. This did have some cool parts but for the most part I was very disappointed. Just too slow for me.

3/5 stars

Posted by Jeremy Fuentes (Member # 2135) on 04-16-2004, 09:02 AM:

I thought it was pretty good. Didnt really drag for me. It had a few funny parts too.

3.85796 out of 5.

Posted by Ron Lacheur (Member # 1126) on 04-16-2004, 06:17 PM:

I liked it. I went into it thinking that it was gonna be the ultimate revenge picture, but it didn't really turn out that way. " The Russian " character was a little over-the-top.

Presentation wise: Whom ever built up the trailer pack should be banned from any movie theater for life. 2 out of frame splices, one was corrected right away, the other I had to get up and report it. I was cringing to see how the print would be assembled. But it was ok.

Posted by Zach McQuaid (Member # 613) on 04-18-2004, 02:47 AM:

You too? I had a half-assed "cross-trained usher" who was said to have excellent booth experience leave a Q-tip where all the bad splices were in the print. Apparently, as they were screening, they just kept re-framing the picture because the movie was "so damn good".

The Friday Openers (which included myself) were none too happy at the sight of a print littered with more than a dozen Q-Tips poking up through the top of the print with a note that read: "sorry, didn't fix yet."
[puke]

Don't worry, he was sent to the Tuna-Factory. (They do a lot of canning there!)

Posted by Michael Schaffer (Member # 1204) on 04-18-2004, 03:35 AM:

The Russian was over the top, no kidding?
I saw this at ShoWest and really enjoyed it. Great escapist entertainment. The beginning is a little slow,

oh [Eek!]

spoilers

we all understood that the Travolta gang would kill his family and get "punished" for that long before it happened. I loved the way the over-the-top action scenes got more and more violent, then turned into slapstick.
At first I thought the guy was Christopher Lambert, but then it occurred to me that he is way too old to be in such good shape.

Posted by Derek Miner (Member # 2348) on 04-18-2004, 09:53 PM:

I pretty much got what I expected on this one. However, writer Jonathan Hensleigh as first-time director leaves a little bit to be desired. I enjoyed the dumb fun of his Die Hard With a Vengeance and The Rock (which his name was not allowed on by the Writer's Guild).

Since I live in the Tampa area, it was fun to see some familiar sites in the film. Many times I've been downtown, I've driven past the building that was used as the exterior of the tenement Castle moved into. It was also fun to note that the Saint Motors car lot with about four or five rows of cars was digitally extended to something rather extravagant.

Since others are noting bad presentation on this, I will say that the AMC that I went to ended up with plenty of minor scratches and a few emulsion scratches on their print by the end of the release day. And the whole presentation was slightly out of focus, until the last reel where focus really started wavering. By the end of the credits, the picture was bobbing left and right furiously, with focus drifting in and out like crazy.

Posted by Emma Tomiak (Member # 1862) on 04-18-2004, 11:57 PM:

I found this as I was reading a review of The Punisher on CHUD. I got a kick out of it.

quote:
On a Side Note: Because of those ever-more-ridiculously repetitive www.respectcopyrights.org "public service spots" which, seemingly, never switch out (we're still getting Manny Perry and the clips from Enemy of the State out here - I think I've now seen this one more than the one with the painter who "met his wife on The Big Chill"), it affected my viewing of The Punisher. When The Punisher's wife and kid try to escape Will Patton and Friends, it appeared a "bomb had gone off" as the Bronco they were driving seemed to hit a "pipe ramp or cannon." The Bronco flipped and rolled and because of Manny Perry, I knew that they must've "gone for quite a ride." Sigh. Stopped the movie cold for me as I had a larf.

Link to full text article by reviewer Smilin' Jack Ruby.

I'm glad someone else hates those Anti-Piracy PSAs as much as I (we) do. [thumbsup]

Posted by Pravin Ratnam (Member # 1417) on 04-25-2004, 07:16 AM:

I don't know what the hell the critics were smoking on this one. I enjoyed this movie. It has enabled me to continue enjoying April as VIGILANTE MOVIE MONTH. This is what Walking Tall remake should have been like.

Thomas Jane did a pretty decent job. My relatives tell me that Thomas Jane was in some Telugu(South Indian language) movie 15 years ago. I checked out imdb and it is true. I need to rent it if its available in some indian store to see how weird that would be. Rebecca "Stamos" continues to impress with her consistency. She is doing a good job wiping out the crap memories one had to endure with the likes of fellow models such as Cindy Crawford in movies. It had a nice comic book vibe without being self consciously comic book in visual style. Will Patton is good as always. Laura Harring makes for a good bitchy villain. The guy chosen to play Travolta's second son was well cast. He looked like Travolta.
Since people are including a numeric rating for this review, here's mine:
My rating: Pi out of 5.

Posted by Christian Appelt (Member # 1067) on 06-25-2004, 10:38 AM:

What a cheap, amateurish, clumsy and unfunny P.O.S. !

The only thing worse than this film is the release print I saw yesterday. Hello Columbia Tri-Star - if you want people to stay home, just keep on turning out such prints - about 8 or 9 shots that looked sharp, anything else unsharp and lacking contrast, but why should you mind, you never go to the movies, right?. [Mad]

I am surprised that the Marvel people do not care about their characters more - this is obviously a cheap movie with bad effects, lame fights and a few good actors doing a bad job for three days so they can pay for their new pool.

This one IMHO should have gone direct to video - although it lacked a Dolph-Lundgren-type male lead. I just wish the people who made it a 24-hour non stop run of their film - CLOCKWORK ORANGE style. I'll be there to help with eyedrops! [Big Grin]

How are release prints in other countries over Europe?