Saturday, January 10, 2009

Best Action Movie - 1st Runner Up: The Punisher:War Zone


Ranking 'Punisher:War Zone' as a first runner up was a tough decision to make. It's going to be one of those choices where it will be one day 'Rambo' is my favorite, but then the next day I will be thinking that 'Punisher:War Zone' is the best. Ultimately, the .50 cal scene in 'Rambo' will win the argument every time.
The history of Punisher movies is a bumpy one. In 1989 Frank Castle/The Punisher made his movie debut on home video. The result was a cult classic among fans, but not a true representing of the popular Marvel Comics vigilante. It wasn't until the Comic Book movie boom of 2000 that Punisher would get a movie true to it's character. The movie was an improvement and decent comic to movie adaptation. Thomas Jane did not want to reprise his role as Frank Castle, due to the script not meeting his approval. So yet another relaunch was in process. The 3rd installment was set with an awesome actor Ray Stevenson(who's performance is and was the definitive Frank Castle). Met with Internet rumored production problems and Internet movie snobs backlash, Punisher:War Zone was set to fail even before it's box office debut. The critic's hated it(duh) and the movie failed at the box office(if you really care about that). The movie did however find it's audience and that number will continue to grow in DVD and Blu-Ray sales.
For me, Punisher:War Zone is the best Punisher movie ever made. Finally we have an actor and director who understand the who and what this character is. The movie like the comic is no holds barred action. Fans of the comic and action movies in general, are in for a good time.
Fans of comic book movies who take their characters seriously will have a hard time adjusting to what will seem like one of the worst comic book movies ever. My advice to these movie geek snobs is simple, get over it. A+ Enjoy!!!

~Caleb

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