Product of Lionsgate Films
Directed by Lexi Alexander
Starring Ray Stevenson, Dominic West, Julie Benz, Colin Salmon, and Doug Hutchinson.
Under new direction of Lexi Alexander and a new star, Ray Stevenson, "War Zone" takes a whole new perspective to the "Punisher" label. Originally planned as a sequel, the original director and lead role left the project, causing Lionsgate to rewrite a completely new story, complete with a character background and how his family died, even including changing his family as having two children and changing the year of death.
There are immense amounts of gore, though I have to admit that the kill shots are quite creative. The opening fight scene takes a lesson from 1999's "The Boondock Saints," with the Punisher taking out an entire Italian mob family before latching onto a chandelier and killing the bodyguards while spinning around with dual-SMGs, complete with slow-mo (as well as a death-talk in an empty church near the end of the movie, also reminiscent of "Saints"). In fact, I'm pretty sure that Frank Castle spends the first twenty minutes of the movie in body armor, racking up a ballpark estimate of 32 kills before speaking one word.
Ray Stevenson does a simply sublime job as Frank Castle. I cannot get over how well he takes hold of the cold-hearted vigilante yet warm, loving, pensive, and broken family man. In the scene where Castle appears at the home of the agent he killed to offer condolences and security, you can clearly see the pain and suffering he endures himself in his eyes. Dominic West looks like Pavi Largo right out of "Repo! The Genetic Opera (2008)," even down to the caring-so-much-about-his-looks-he-cries attitude. Kinda looks like Pavi too. His "Jigsaw" demeanor rivals that of Heath Ledger's masterpiece as the Joker in 2008, leading me to believe that 2008 was the year of psychotic murderous villains with appearance issues. Jigsaw's brother, a half-pint aptly named "Loony Bin Jim" for obvious reasons, simply finds pleasure in breaking things with his body. Like mirrors. With his head. Seriously. The guy has racked up like, 42 years of bad luck or something like that in this movie alone. He also has some obscure fetish with kidneys too.
My favorite character in the movie by far Martin Soap, played by Dash Mihok, who looks and acts oddly like Will Ferrell. Aside from having the coolest superhero and possibly foreign real name in Hollywood history, he is one funny dude. I love the word awkward, but it doesn't quite fit the character here. He's shy, a little unconfident, and quick to apologize. He doesn't believe in himself one bit and he's nervous to a fault, and how he rose to the rank of Detective is beyond me. He's been following the Punisher for 5 years as of this movie with no leads to his capture or anything, but he stays positive. A very likable character indeed.
The direction under Lexi Alexander, a woman with two first names, is a little more cinematographic though just as random as Jonathan Hensleigh. So random, that Willem Dafoe's seemingly Italian look-alike cousin, Billy Russoti (played by Dominic West) ungracefully falls into a bottle-crushing vat for what looks to be no reason at all, thus becoming the main antagonist Jigsaw. Some of her more artistic shots and choice of sets are second-to-none though, such as the opening scene seen from behind a lavish fountain or the conversation between Castle and Julie Benz's character Angela Donatelli on her porch. (Is everyone in this movie Italian!?) There are some comic book elements that are obvious as well, like fists going through skulls and entire decapitations by way of very small knife and extreme amounts of gore. Also, how quickly and fearlessly warms up to Castle is startling and undocumented.
There are some very funny shout-outs and easter eggs of other movies and pop-culture icons, no doubt a signature style of the director. There is no question that this movie is a significant upgrade from the first. Through my very badly damaged rented copy of this movie, I did miss if and how he killed Loony Bin Jim and the first beating of Jigsaw, even after I had to reboot my DVD player.
Overall, I enjoyed this movie more so than the first. Improved direction, a more powerful and influential lead role, and well-rounded supporting cast members. On the downside, however, there were more fight scenes and less story, making it a little less appealing for me. I give it a B+ to A-.
This is the last time I rent from the two-for-one section.
"Oh God, now I've got brains splattered all over me." - Detective Soap
No comments:
Post a Comment