I’ve been hearing about The Punisher: War Zone for a while now and not really caring about it. I actually thought the first one wasn’t that bad although fans of the comic book didn’t seem to like it at all. Still, I had little interest in anything to do with this “reboot” from Marvel even after seeing Iron Man.
The new trailer for the film just hit the net, though, and I have to admit that it’s pretty rockin’ sweet. It doesn’t really show enough to get too excited about the movie, but it shows enough to make me a lot more interested in it than I was.
Gone in this reboot is any sort of connection to the first film, from what I can tell. Thomas Jane is out as the title character and is replaced by Ray Stevenson (King Arthur, Rome). John Travolta and Rebecca Romijn are out as well. Taking their place is Doug Hutchison (The Green Mile, I Am Sam, Lost), Dominic West (300, Hannibal Rising), Wayne Knight (Seinfeld, Jurassic Park) and a bunch of never-heard-ofs. It was directed by a woman named Lexi Alexander who hasn’t done anything that we’d have noticed.
Waging his one-man war on the world of organized crime, ruthless vigilante-hero Frank Castle sets his sights on overeager mob boss Billy Russoti. After Russoti is left horribly disfigured by Castle, he sets out for vengeance under his new alias: Jigsaw. With the “Punisher Task Force” hot on his trail and the FBI unable to take Jigsaw in, Frank must stand up to the formidable army that Jigsaw has recruited before more of his evil deeds go unpunished.
What do you think? Does Marvel have another hit on their hands with this one? Will they be able to reboot the series and make it a franchise?
The Punisher: War Zone opens in theaters on December 5, 2008.
Ooooo… I like the poster! That might end up being my favorite part of the movie.
Hey Jason… when you say “I actually thought the first one wasn’t that bad …” you arent referring to the one with Dolph Lundgren are ya? I think you mean the 2nd one with Thomas Jane, cause the first one was that bad, but the one with Thomas Jane wasnt that bad…
Sorry, my mistake. I'd actually already purged the Dolph Lundgren version from my memory so I was thinking of the Thomas Jane one.
An interesting tidbit – the writer of the Dolph Lundgren version, Boaz Yakin, is also the screenwriter of the upcoming “Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time.” Not sure that's a good thing…
LOL… I dont blame ya…. that is interesting especially with most video game adaptions are horrible, this one had some decent hype, but you may be right on the trend may continue for bad conversions…
Well, I don't think the trailer helped to sway me on this one…oh well, I've got enough other movies that I want to see, so that's not a bad thing.
I was impressed with prince of persia since it had ben kingsley, but then isn't he in the love guru