So this is what the action genre has come to? Before you dismiss me as another person raving on about how violent the movie was (I didn't think it was that violent at all) or another person complaining about the lack of a sensible story (it's a brainless action movie, I don't care) or another person making a fool of themselves by calling it racist (this just makes me laugh), maybe you should actually hear me out. I'm not here to trash Punisher: War Zone for anything other than the arias it needs trashing. I went in expecting a brainless action movie, and that is the sole thing I judged it on. That was also the sole thing I gave it this score for.
Honestly, I don't blame the fans as much as the movie makers for the bottomless pit of dramas-with-a-few-things-blowing-up disguised as action movies. I can understand how this got a high rating for being purely fun to some viewers. I'm not going to lie that there was some fun to be had if you were half-drunk and with a group of buddies. If that were me, I'd most likely give it a decent score myself. But I'm not being biased here. Punisher: War Zone is bad. Here is why.
The film starts out, flat out, with some of the worst acting out there. There is not a single person in the entire cast (minus Julie Benz, maybe) that could even remotely come close to good acting. Some of the actors were so utterly ridiculesthe two bad guysthey reminded me of something right out of a first-year film student's final project. If that. Dominic West as Jigsaw (which is a name I never want to hear outside of the Saw movies) is 100% obviously ripping-offwell, more like retardedly imitatingJoker in The Dark Knight. If his acting wasn't enough to give away that he is a Heath Ledger-wannabe, the camera angles and lighting are both also ripped-off from the scenes with Joker in The Dark Knight. Not to mention his make-up is almost a direct copy of Two Face in The Dark Knight.
So the acting is bad. It's a brainless action movie, who cares, right? Wrong. It's not a brainless action movie as advertised. You can argue with me all day, but am I really the only one who was bored out of his mind? The film opens up with action, then an hour later there is another action scene, then there is one last action scene and the movie ends. Three action scenes separated by over half the run-time of pointless talking scenes and pointless, cheesy drama scenes. There was a lot of the movie I thought I was sitting through Twilight all over again. This has to be one of the least entertaining movies of the year, by far. There is simply very little action. Why can't action movies today be like the old Indiana Jones movies, or the old Predator movies, where the action was almost consistent from opening to close? They never had pointless, cliché talking and drama sequences. They had ACTION.
Despite what anyone is telling you, take my word. Punisher: War Zone has very little action. It's so ridiculously slow I was ready to walk out more than once. I literally counted them, and there is literally only three main action scenes. Maybe a forth small one. They all last five to ten minutes each, then the movie is back to drama. And cheese.
The action isn't even anything you haven't seen a thousand times, either. Put simply, it's very typical. Generic, uninspired shootouts. Also, do not listen to whoever told you this movie was mega-violent. It wasn't. Yeah, there was a few bloody scenes, and maybe two graphic scenes, and that's about it. Nothing you haven't seen before whatsoever. The violent level is average for this kind of movie. Period. It's all generic and predictable. Heads cut off, throats slit, heads bashed in. Typical violence in typical amounts. A lot of it isn't even shown on screen. Talk about pathetic.
If you want a brainless, cheesy action movie that actually has action, go watch Kill Bill or The Machine Girl. If you want a serious action movie that actually has action, go watch the original Predator or even the new Bond movie, Quantum of Solace. I'm not sure which one Punisher: War Zone was trying to be, but it failed at both. It also failed at being a successful comic adaption. Instead of actually taking time to attempt to reenact comic style, the director just puts random color backgrounds in certain scenes. Not to mention Punisher isn't even half this ridicules in the comics.
No matter what way I look at it, I can't think of a single thing this movie did right.
0/10
Honestly, I don't blame the fans as much as the movie makers for the bottomless pit of dramas-with-a-few-things-blowing-up disguised as action movies. I can understand how this got a high rating for being purely fun to some viewers. I'm not going to lie that there was some fun to be had if you were half-drunk and with a group of buddies. If that were me, I'd most likely give it a decent score myself. But I'm not being biased here. Punisher: War Zone is bad. Here is why.
The film starts out, flat out, with some of the worst acting out there. There is not a single person in the entire cast (minus Julie Benz, maybe) that could even remotely come close to good acting. Some of the actors were so utterly ridiculesthe two bad guysthey reminded me of something right out of a first-year film student's final project. If that. Dominic West as Jigsaw (which is a name I never want to hear outside of the Saw movies) is 100% obviously ripping-offwell, more like retardedly imitatingJoker in The Dark Knight. If his acting wasn't enough to give away that he is a Heath Ledger-wannabe, the camera angles and lighting are both also ripped-off from the scenes with Joker in The Dark Knight. Not to mention his make-up is almost a direct copy of Two Face in The Dark Knight.
So the acting is bad. It's a brainless action movie, who cares, right? Wrong. It's not a brainless action movie as advertised. You can argue with me all day, but am I really the only one who was bored out of his mind? The film opens up with action, then an hour later there is another action scene, then there is one last action scene and the movie ends. Three action scenes separated by over half the run-time of pointless talking scenes and pointless, cheesy drama scenes. There was a lot of the movie I thought I was sitting through Twilight all over again. This has to be one of the least entertaining movies of the year, by far. There is simply very little action. Why can't action movies today be like the old Indiana Jones movies, or the old Predator movies, where the action was almost consistent from opening to close? They never had pointless, cliché talking and drama sequences. They had ACTION.
Despite what anyone is telling you, take my word. Punisher: War Zone has very little action. It's so ridiculously slow I was ready to walk out more than once. I literally counted them, and there is literally only three main action scenes. Maybe a forth small one. They all last five to ten minutes each, then the movie is back to drama. And cheese.
The action isn't even anything you haven't seen a thousand times, either. Put simply, it's very typical. Generic, uninspired shootouts. Also, do not listen to whoever told you this movie was mega-violent. It wasn't. Yeah, there was a few bloody scenes, and maybe two graphic scenes, and that's about it. Nothing you haven't seen before whatsoever. The violent level is average for this kind of movie. Period. It's all generic and predictable. Heads cut off, throats slit, heads bashed in. Typical violence in typical amounts. A lot of it isn't even shown on screen. Talk about pathetic.
If you want a brainless, cheesy action movie that actually has action, go watch Kill Bill or The Machine Girl. If you want a serious action movie that actually has action, go watch the original Predator or even the new Bond movie, Quantum of Solace. I'm not sure which one Punisher: War Zone was trying to be, but it failed at both. It also failed at being a successful comic adaption. Instead of actually taking time to attempt to reenact comic style, the director just puts random color backgrounds in certain scenes. Not to mention Punisher isn't even half this ridicules in the comics.
No matter what way I look at it, I can't think of a single thing this movie did right.
0/10