"He's The Punisher, he fights bad guys, and he blows stuff up. That's my kind of movie." Willie Waffle WAFFLEMOVIES.COM "For those who can stomach two hours of brain-dead brutality, the film has more laughs than most comedies." Lisa Rose NEWARK STAR-LEDGER "... a lot of fun." Richard Roeper EBERT & ROEPER "There isn’t a moment in The Punisher that isn't borrowed or stolen from another movie." Rex Reed NEW YORK OBSERVER "Thanks to Thomas Jane's carefully-oiled muscles and John Travolta's huffy hair-flipping, 'The Punisher' supplies your daily minimum requirements of both beefcake and ham." James Sanford KALAMAZOO GAZETTE

What The Critics Say

"No, The Punisher isn't pretty. But, like its low-rent superhero, it gets the job done and then some." Glenn Lovell SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS "Although the concept is old, The Punisher puts some clever variations on the vigilante theme." Mike McGranaghan AISLE SEAT "It's one of the best comic-book- to-film translations because it stays true to its source material while making for a great action flick." Jeffrey Lyles GAZETTE "For fans of vigilante justice, The Punisher is a guilty pleasure. A very guilty pleasure. We're talking moral, intellectual and judicial culpability here, folks." Christine James BOXOFFICE MAGAZINE "Trashy and disturbingly violent yet fairly zippy and amusingly cast." Mike Clark USA TODAY

At A Glance

"The Punisher has bad acting, bad directing, and a bad script. But at the end of the day "The Punisher" is an entertaining, brainless, B-grade action film." Michelle Alexandria ECLIPSE MAGAZINE

Are you sick of mushy, romantic movies? You know, the ones that make you cringe. Are you sick of movies that require, or rely on, activating massive numbers of brain cells deep within your subconcious? You know, the ones that leave you feeling like you're hung over. Have you had your fill of super heroes? You know, the ones that leap from building to building in tight, brightly coloured leotards. Then relief is here. Yes dear reader, "The Punisher", the latest Marvel Comic hero has hit the big screen. No mystical powers. No tight leotards. No mask. Just an ordinary guy with a jazzy T-shirt whose heart and soul is filled with revenge. Let me qualify that. Frank Castle is human but he's no ordinary guy. Frank has skills. Skills learnt from years of working in special operations. Skills first gained as a Delta Force Operative and then honed even further while working for the FBI. But now Frank has become a vigilante, a renegade. A man who wants only one thing. To punish criminals. No, not with a slap on the wrist. No, not with a life of luxury behind bars. No, not with a shortened plea bargain. Frank wants to really punish them. And I mean good and proper! And don't worry about Frank's pedigree. He used to work with Spider-Man, another Marvel comic book hero. In fact Frank Castle [The Punisher] made his comic book debut way back in the last century. 1974 to be exact. So what is so special about this latest 'hero'? What will make him stand out from the plethora of current screen heroes?
"From the beginning, The Punisher stood out in the Marvel universe as a different kind of superhero. He had no supernatural gifts. His skills - whether hand-to-hand combat, weapons mastery, or battlefield strategizing - were strictly organic. The Punisher was flesh and blood, like his readers. He proved so popular that he was given his own series, and by 1990 was starring in as many as three titles a month." That popularity is still evident in the 21st century. The question many will ask is, "do we really need another comic book hero?" After all, "the Punisher is not the typical Marvel superhero." Keeping that in mind Marvel realized that "a film version of The Punisher would also have to forge its own distinct path." Producer Ari Arad says, “The Punisher is gritty and real, and we wanted to make a movie that reflected that." Fellow producer Gale Anne Hurd ["Terminator I, II & III"] explains; "The Punisher is the kind of film that I want to see as a moviegoer and that attracted me to the project from the very beginning. I’d read the Welcome Back Frank trade paperback, and I loved the fact that this was a different kind of hero. Frank Castle doesn’t have superpowers. What he does have is skills and abilities from his military training and the power and athleticism to pull them off." But haven't revenge movies been done to death? . "I like revenge stories," director Jonathan Hensleigh says. "The problem with revenge stories is that they’re a staple of American cinema and because of that, the genre is a little shopworn. But this particular revenge story held my interest, it brought a fresh coat of paint to the genre. It had a starkness to it, and also a sweetness with the ancillary characters. The tenement apartment dwellers were very prominent in the Welcome Back Frank series. I think that they had a great deal to do with my attraction to the story. It wasn't just nihilistic." So what makes Frank Castle so different? What will be his appeal to audiences?
"Frank Castle has always believed that there is a good reason to follow orders. He has always believed that, to uphold the values that were instilled in him in the military, violence is sometimes justified," Hurd said. "That whole philosophy comes home to roost when his family is killed. When he realizes that justice is not forthcoming for the perpetrators of that crime, he finds himself in a position to take on that mantle." And that mantle is? "To become a vigilante in order to, in his mind, serve justice." Frank's nemesis is Howard Saint, who "In some ways, is Castle’s double, refracted through a cracked mirror: a hardworking, highly intelligent man at the top of his field, a man who is devoted to his family." But Saint is flawed though? "Like a lot of syndicate players, Howard Saint is disassociated from morality and disassociated from the world that the rest of us live in," Hensleigh notes. "He believes he’s above the law." Does that fit in with the Marvel tradition when it comes to villians? Avi Arad sees Howard Saint as a villain who fits squarely in the Marvel tradition. "At Marvel, we want our villains to have a human dimension. To understand a villain you have to see the man behind the villain, the person that comes home at the end of the day." That brings me to Franks new found home and his neighbours. They are a colorful lot and there is a real sense of wanting to belong, to come together here, isn't there? "They're all broken people. Castle is a broken man. He heals them; they heal him," Hensleigh says. "Through the softening and humanizing effects of this new surrogate family, and the fact that he had to come to their aid, because these are people that he cares about he realizes that he has a broader role after the vengeance of his family is concluded." Cast & Crew Bytes "The Punisher" was directed by Jonathan Hensleigh ["Jumanji", "The Rock", "The Saint" and "Con Air"], written by Jonathan Hensleigh and Michael France ["Cliffhanger", "GoldenEye", "The Hulk" and "Titans"] produced by Gale Anne Hurd ["Terminator", "The Hulk", "Terminator 3", "Terminator 2", "Alien" and "The Abyss"] and Avi Arad ["Spider-Man", "X-Men", "X-Men 2", "Daredevil" and "Blade II"], costume design by Lisa Tomczeszyn ["Pleasantville", "Practical Magic", "Seabiscuit", "Spider-Man" and "Daredevil"], edited by Steven Kemper ["New Jack City", "Sudden Death", "In The Line of Fire" and "Kiss The Girls"] cinematography by Conrad W Hall ["Panic Room", "American Beauty", "Sleepy Hollow" and "Alien Resurrection"] with stunts supervised by Gary Hymes ["The Italian Job", "Biker Boyz", "Broken Arrow", "Tango & Cash" and "The Untouchables"].
"The Punisher" stars John Travolta ["Saturday Night Fever", "Face Off", "Get Shorty", "Swordfish" and "Basic"], Will Patton ["The Mothman Prophecies", "Armageddon", "Copycat" and "The Client"], former Miss USA Laura Harring ["Mulholland Drive", "Little Nicky", "Exit to Eden" and "Willard"], Ben Foster ["Hostage"], James Carpinello ["The Great Raid"], Eddie Jemison ["Schizopolis", "Ocean’s 11" and "Bruce Almighty"], Eduardo Yanez ["Wild Things", "Striptease" and "Held Up"], Roy Scheider ["The French Connection", "Jaws", "Blue Thunder" and "Marathon Man"], Rebecca Romijn-Stamos ["Femme Fatale", "X-Men 2" and "Simone"], John Pinette ["Dear God", "Duets", "Junior" and "My Five Wives"], Kevin Nash [TV's "The New Love Boat", "Sabrina the Teenage Witch" and "Nikki"] and Tom Jane ["Deep Blue Sea", "The Sweetest Thing", "Under Suspicion" and "Boogie Nights"] as Frank Castle/The Punisher. The Story

"Hensleigh, co-writer with Michael France, makes the paint-by-numbers of organized-crime movies look fresh by tapping good actors and sleek camera work." .......... Michael Booth DENVER POST

Frank Castle has had a successful career working as an FBI special agent in the battle against drugs. Now with just one last operation to complete, Frank is looking forward to a new life, a new identity and spending time with his wife Maria and his son Will. But his latest sting, posing as a drug dealer, goes horribly wrong when one of the prospective buyers, Bobby Saint, is killed in a shootout. The young man just happens to be the son of Tampa crime boss Howard Saint. Saint doesn't care that his son acted unwisely, he wants answers and revenge. It doesn't take long for Saint's underworld contacts to find out that Frank Castle is the man responsible for his sons death. When Saints wife Livia hears that Frank will be joining his wife, son and whole family on a reunion, she orders gunmen to eliminate everyone. Kill them all. Leave no-one, man, woman or child alive. Her orders are carried out and all Frank's relatives are slaughtered. Somehow, Frank manages to survive. The Saints are about to find out the hard way. No one messes with Frank Castle. Frank is about to punish each and every member of Saints family, his henchmen and associates. Frank Castle has become "The Punisher". The Verdict "It's not only action packed and a great send-up, this is, at times, a very, very funny movie. Don't take it too serious and you'll have a lot of fun. "The Punisher" is very much an over the top film for its genre, drawing something from just about every action hero film that has come out of Hollywood. It's fierce, farcical, ridiculous fun. A first class 'B' grade film." Websites To Visit

"The Punisher" website

"The Punisher" Album site

The Cast

Tom Jane John Travolta Laura Harring Samantha Mathis Russell Andrews Kevin Nash Omar Avila James Carpinello Roy Scheider Mark Collie Russ Comegys Antoni Corone Rick Elmhurst Carleth Keys Ben Foster Michael Francis Will Hasenzahl Eddie Jemison Marco St John Marcus Johns Bonnie Johnson Veryl Jones Terry Loughlin Marc Macaulay Tom Nowicki Robin O'Dell Will Patton Yamil Piedra John Pinette Steve Raulerson Rebecca Romijn-Stamos Hank Stone Sonny Surowiec Jim Meskimen Jack Swanson Alan Lilly Eduardo Yáńez

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Frank Castle/The Punisher Howard Saint Livia Saint Maria Castle Jimmy Weeks The Russian Joe Toro Bobby Saint/John Saint Frank Castle Sr Harry Heck Tattooed Mike TJ Bay News 9 Newscaster Bay News 9 Newscaster Spacker Dave Toro Croupier EMT Micky Duka Police Chief Morris Will Castle Betty Castle Candelaria Spoon Dante Lincoln Field Reporter Quentin Glass Toro Pit Boss Bumpo Yuri Astrov Joan Cutter Saint Puerto Rico Enforcer Accountant #1 Accountant #2 Accountant #3 Mike Toro

The Crew Directed by Jonathan Hensleigh Written by Jonathan Hensleigh and Michael France Produced by Avi Arad & Gale Anne Hurd Original Music by Carlo Siliotto Cinematography by Conrad W Hall Film Editing by Steven Kemper Casting by Pam Dixon Production Design by Michael Z Hanan Art Direction by John Dexter/John Hansen/Steve Saklad Set Decoration by Casey Hallenbeck Costume Design by Lisa Tomczeszyn Run Time 124 minutes Rated MA15+ [AUST] Copyright ©2004 - Artisan Entertainment/Lions Gate Films - All Rights Reserved Copyright © 2004 - Impact Internet Services - All Rights Reserved