The Punisher (1989) - Comic to Movie #7

"Here is justice. Here is punishment. Here...in me."

Director

Mark Goldblatt 

Cast

Dolph Lundgren - Frank Castle/ The Punisher

Louis Gossett, Jr., - Jake Berkowitz

Jeroen Krabbe - Gianni Franco

Kim Miyori -Lady Tanaka

Nancy Everhard - Sam Leary

Barry Otto - Shake

A good friend of mine asked me recently if I ever watched The Punisher from 1989. 

I dug deep into the darkest, moldiest, neglected corners of my memory to dig up any recollection of knowing about a "1989 Punisher movie." Had I heard of it before? I think so. I don't know, really. 

I think I remember hearing about it, or seeing something about it at some point, but I also think I may be conjuring up false memories. I swore I've seen the poster before, but again...I really don't recall when or where I saw it, if I ever saw it at all. The chrome-style title "The Punisher" on the poster looks kind of familiar.

So, a little Googling helped shine some light of clarity into all these foggy, unreliable memories.  

The Punisher was released theatrically world-wide except in the U.S. and a few other countries. It was scheduled to be released in the States, but the film company, New World, distributing the movie was slammed with money issues. And The Punisher didn't quite receive the release it was scheduled to in the states as a result. 

It went straight to video in 1991, was shown at an L.A. Comic Convention the year before that, and had a few special screenings here and there in the years following. 

The Punisher is a Marvel Comics character who's real name is Frank Castle.

He's a vigilante whose tactics in "punishing" criminals is murder, violence, extortion and torture by whatever means necessary to "punish the guilty. He's a real Machiavellian. 

In the comics, his rage towards crime and those guilty of it stem from witnessing the murder of his wife and children by mobsters as they were witnesses to a crime. 

To me, he's a darker, grittier, and more ruthless version of Batman. He doesn't need a mask. He just needs his anger from the darkest corners of his soul, along with some fighting skills, fearlessness, and the ability to be illusive. The Punisher is recognized by a large emblem of a skull he bears on his shirt. 

Dolph Londgren (Rocky IV, Masters of the Universe) stars as ex-cop Frank Castle. His origin story in the movie is faithful to the source material. 

Dolph Lundgren as Frank Castle/ The Punisher

The movie starts after this fact, though through a couple quick flashbacks, the audience is shown the death of his family.

Castle hides in the sewer to avoid detection while the city above has been trying to determine the identity of this mysterious "punisher" for years.

After blowing up the home of a wealthy mafia crime lord while still inside, an act witnessed by police and the media, officer Jake Berkowitz (Louis Gossett, Jr.) sees Castle inside the home just moments before it explodes.

Law enforcement conclude that Castle is legally dead, but Berkowitz doesn't think so. Yet, somehow, they still can't figure out Castle is the Punisher? I guess they lack substantial proof.

Meanwhile, in his solitude, Castle constantly reflects on the death of his family. He plays it out over and over in his mind. It fuels his anger to punish. And because of his "punishments" towards the mafia, their power has weakened over time.

One mafia family leader, Gianni Franco (Jeroen Krabbe - The Fugitive) decides to come out of retirement and bring other mafia families together in order to bolster their strength. 

Franco's plans take an unexpected turn as Lady Tanaka (Kim Miyori - Babylon 5), head of Asia's crime network, the Yakuza, takes over the unification of the crime families. 

And to make sure the partnering families are all on board with her scheme, she has their children kidnapped and threatens to sell them into a slave trade if the crime lords don't go along with her plans. 

Meanwhile, Castle gathers all his intelligence through a drunken former Shakespearian actor named Shake (Barry Otto). 

Shake talks the Punisher into saving the kidnapped children despite the fact they're the offspring of mafia criminals. 

This ultimately puts Castle up against one of the largest and most powerful criminal organizations in the world.

The serious tone of the movie mixed with ridiculous stereotypes (Italian mafioso saying nothing short of dumb Italian catchphrases with fake New York/Italian accents - "forgettabout it", "hey, I ordered pizza") and just general cartoonish acting mixed in is distracting. It's like producers hired Super Mario to write all the mafia dialogue.

Louis Gossett, Jr.

Louis Gossett, Jr., plays the tired trope of the no-nonsense, introvert cop with a chip of his shoulder. 

He has a history with Castle going years back, and carries his own pain seeing his old fellow officer so far gone. 

Gossett is a fantastic actor and puts a lot of emotion into this role. But the whole "no nonsense" attitude is something seen over and over again. 

Some parts of the movie don't make much sense. For instance, a young investigator named Sam Leary (Nancy Everhard), who's fresh out of the police academy having been top of her class, wants to partner with Berkowitz as she's convinced Castle is still alive and is the illusive Punisher. 

Berkowitz, who is reluctant at first because he doesn't work with partners, agrees since he thinks the same thing. 

In a weird line of reasoning, Leary thinks Castle stole the kids, which makes absolutely no sense! None. But she thinks he did and claims his doing so "makes sense" because he lost his own children. 

It's the stupidest line in the movie.

A former cop turned vigilante, who suffered the torment of losing his two children in a car bomb would suddenly decide to steal children from their parents (albeit criminal parents) is not an act that makes sense. And she was top of her police training class? Sure, the Punisher is ruthless, but he goes after the guilty, not the children of the guilty. And this M.O. is already established earlier in the movie. 

In one scene after the police have Castle in their custody, Berkowitz verbally and physically lashes out at him because Castle has killed 125 criminals since taking on his Punisher persona. His lack of empathy seems off to me.

The dark and depraved story line - threatening to sell children into a slave trade - while one broken and deadly vigilante goes against a major crime organization is an extremely compelling story.  

However, the explosions (there's a whole lot of them) along with the consistent gun fire blowing everything away over and over again grows annoying to me. 

The movie lacks polish and perfection. It feels like it's a dress rehearsal rather than a finished production. The bad acting, save for Gossett, adds to this factor. And the pyrotechnics used as a wow factor turns boring and loud. It just goes on and on. 

Though the Punisher bleeds and bruises, he indestructible. Even Batman got hit with a bullet every once in a while. 

Barry Otto and Dolph Lundgren.

In one scene, the Punisher is sprayed with gunfire and point blank range, and still manages to walk away unscathed. 

If the writing and acting had more effort, more care, and less explosions to win the audience's favor, this may have been a better movie.  

The audience just gets enough back story, albeit in small enough doses, to understand what motivates Castle. 

Lundgren's performance, sadly, expresses the false idea that a shattered character means showing no emotion. It should be quite the opposite. Sadness and grief should be brought out. 

Being a serious "bad-ass" while blowing everything and everyone away is no substitute for extreme sadness and loss. It's poor acting.

And on top of it all, the Punisher doesn't dawn his iconic skull logo on his chest. That's like making a Superman movie and not having Superman bear his "S" shield. Logos help create the identity of the hero. No skull? That's just weak. We only see his skull emblem as the Punisher leaves knives with the skull at the end of the handle as a calling card.  

The Punisher doesn't lack in action, intensity, and story. It just forgets that too much of a good thing isn't so good. The movie had potential. They just needed something more lustrous. and looking like a finished product.