Classic Shit: ‘Punisher: War Zone’

“Classic Shit!† is a column dedicated to films that were maligned upon release, and it is for films that are as entertaining as they are terrible. It is a home for cinema’s underdog.

If I say something is a classic, then take it with a grain of salt. If I call it shit, then I do it with love.

‘Punisher: War Zone’ is probably 2008s best and most violent guilty pleasure, as well as being the most ignored by general audiences.

It is a perfect bookend to ’08s other violent epic via Lionsgate – Rambo. I suggest watching them as a double feature. Have a beer or two. Watch it with friends, friends that like watching shit explode.

In 2004, ‘The Punisher’ (mit Thomas Jane & John Travolta) raked in a domestic gross of $33,810,189. Not too shabby, though nothing to write home about.

Four years later, ‘Punisher: War Zone’ (sans Stander & Vincent Vega) rolls away from the megaplexes with a paltry $8,050,977. Okay, now make sure you do write home about this and make sure to quote Palmer:

“You gotta be fucking kidding.†

‘War Zone’ is far and away the better of the two movies, but it isn’t hard to guess why it got killed at the box office. No marquee names, a woman director (you sexist pigs) and a release date uncomfortably close to the film that it is essentially remaking. Lest you forget, ‘The Punisher’ was lackluster at best and its stink was still pretty fresh. Sure, Warner Bros. reinvented the ‘Batman’ franchise, but they had the good sense to wait almost a decade. Lionsgate took a gamble with a 4-year difference. Also, releasing ‘War Zone’ in December seems kind of, oh, I don’t know†¦ dumb? Hindsight, however, is 20/20 and I’m not here to bemoan domestic grosses.

Director Lexi Alexander, who previously helmed ‘Green Street Hooligans,’ shows a considerable talent for wrangling carnage. She is the real deal, an obvious talent that displays total confidence in the execution of fisticuffs, gunfights and explosions. There is no over reliance on shaky camera work in this film. Alexander has everything framed so you can clearly see who is getting punished, and how. Bully for her. I was beginning to think that directors had forgotten how to do this. So, if you’re still on the fence regarding her strengths as a director, then I want you to know that she was also previously nominated for an Academy Award. For DIRECTING.

Trust me, Alexander has the chops, not to mention some extra help.

Her partner in crime, cinematographer Steve Gainer, employs a fantastic comic book lighting scheme that mimics the source material and uses a myriad of in-camera tricks, like manipulating the image with prism glass and setting hot butane beneath the lens for that sweltering “hot† look. ‘War Zone’ benefits from the intense use of color and reminded me a great deal of the very similar lighting effects used in ‘Creepshow’ and ‘Suspiria.’ If you like the way those movies look, then give ‘War Zone’ a gander.

Gainer’s reliance of in-camera trickery is pretty telling of his background, i.e. low-budget productions. You make the most of what you have at your disposal. He cut his teeth on movies like ‘MP Da Last Don’ and a notable, early collaboration with Matthew Leutwyler, director of ‘Dead & Breakfast’ and the anticipated ‘The River Why’.

[Editor’s note: Leutwyler is currently writing ‘Creepshow 4’ for Vertigo Entertainment†¦ for those of you familiar with Vertigo, you concurrently realize that this new ‘Creepshow’ will be better than the third installment but also has a chance of still sucking. However, I think Leutwyler is a talented dude and can turn in a script that rises above Vertigo’s usual dreck.

Anyway, back to ‘War Zone’.]

Alexander and Gainer should work together again, because they churned out a stylish action film that delivers on the promise of the premise: Frank Castle, the Punisher, is a vigilante that kills criminals, with nary a hint of emotion or display of the social graces that connect ordinary humans to the world at large. He’s like Batman, except he doesn’t give a shit.

And that’s what the story boils down to, essentially, and you’ll either accept it or you won’t. This isn’t goddamn Shakespeare, people. It’s about a man that will explode parkour experts with rockets and cave your head in with his fist. What kind of demands can you make of this kind of material? Alexander and Gainer have delivered.

The rest of production rises to the occasion, too.

William Yeh, the editor, does a great job of putting together the pieces. He knows what shot goes where and what coverage to use when the action needs to be coherent. His skills sell every gunfight, which shouldn’t surprise anybody, since Yeh also served as editor on ‘Equilibrium,’ which had a couple of gunfights of its own.

Composer Michael Wandmacher (‘My Bloody Valentine 3-D’) puts his best foot forward. He employs a lot of the same tongue-in-cheek bombast used so effectively by Theodore Shapiro in ‘Tropic Thunder,’ both managed to compliment their respective films and comment on their own inherent absurdities. This is most notable in Wandmacher’s music cues for the parkour trio. It’s “extreme† music for such “extreme† dudes.

Andrew Neskoromny’s production design is another highlight. Neskoromny recently worked on ‘Dawn of the Dead’ (2004), ‘Slither’ and ‘White Noise 2: The Light,’ the later two being vehicles for new Kurt Russell: Nathan Fillion!

I demand a moment of silence – followed by applause – for Mr. Fillion, who is most awesome.

†¦

Other reasons why Neskoromny is cooler than regular humans:

1) worked as an Art Director for Jean-Pierre Jeunet (‘Alien: Resuurrection’) and
2) was a Set Designer for ‘Coming to America.’

Speaking of ‘Coming to America,’ did you know that Arsenio Hall is still a badass? And do you realize that the man was the voice of Winston Zeddemore in DiC/Columbia Pictures Television’s cartoon, ‘The Real Ghostbusters?’

(Conversely, laughing at the title card for “DiC† is one of the earliest examples of my inability to take things seriously.)

Julio Ferrario, Creative Director for ‘War Zones’ main title sequence – hats off to you, sir, for the faux-comic panels and texts, yet another amazing sequence to add to your all ready considerable reel of work. It’s little details like these that help to make Marvel’s film universe feel a little more cohesive.

The performances, too, are what you’d expect, maybe even better.

Ray Stevenson stars as the Punisher, aka Frank Castle, a character that doesn’t speak until 25 minutes into the movie, which I honestly didn’t notice, though not due to a lack of interest, but because Stevenson is so invested in his actions – his onscreen presence speaks volumes. Action speaks louder than words, and Castle speaks with weapons. Besides, the Punisher isn’t somebody that’s going to stand around running his mouth; he’s too busy killing people for that shit. From the moment the Punisher appears on screen, Stevenson owns the role.

Dominic West plays Jigsaw with relish, a nightmare-version of a greasy mobster. His make-up is another notch in the belt for a team of filmmakers wanting to deliver over-the-top madness.

Doug Hutchison is Loony Bin Jim, brother to West’s Jigsaw, and he plays the character as a speed-freak version of Hannibal Lecter, complete with mad musings on the human liver and a penchant for cannibalistic villainy.

Colin Salmon is in a supporting role as Special Agent Paul Budiansky. He has a nice presence and the camera loves the guy’s face, but his character gets the short end of the stick. He plays the stubborn hardass that plays by the book. No one interested in ‘War Zone’ is interested in “by the book,† so his scenes are thankfully short. He’s a good contrast to Stevenson’s Punisher, but this movie shouldn’t even try to concern itself with that nonsense. Leave the moralizing to the Dark Knight, ‘cause we’re here for the slaughter.

Actually, this Budiansky/Punisher dichotomy is really a missed opportunity, and the one part of the film where this is really apparent is when they meet for the first time and duke it out. That fight should have been epic, like the Nada/Frank fight in “They Live† but Punisher just owns Budiansky’s ass pretty quick. It’s nothing detrimental to the film, but a lost opportunity all the same.

Wayne Knight as Micro and Julie Benz as Angie Donatelli round out the notable cast members. Knight is good in the short amount of time he has on screen, though I must say it feels like an abbreviated performance and I imagine that he has scenes on the cutting room floor. Meanwhile, Benz gets more face time as the wife of a plot device (Romano Orzari) that gets murdered – accidentally(?) – by the Punisher early in the film. Orzari’s character has a name, but I prefer to call him by his function. It feels more appropriate.

Lastly, Nick Santora, Art Marcum and Matt Holloway are credited as the writers. Santora has mostly television credits to his name, while Marcum and Holloway did time on the ‘Iron Man’ script, so maybe Santora is the weak link in the script department? I don’t know. Of course, I can’t totally credit the success of ‘Iron Man’ to Marcum and Holloway, as that film also has work by Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby, both of which had a hand in writing the amazing ‘Children of Men.’ Of course, John Favreau and Robert Downey Jr. probably lent a considerable amount of “uncredited† talent to that other Marvel property. Regardless, I must concede to the fact that Santora, Marcum and Holloway really delivered the best of the three ‘Punisher’ films. Not too hard when considering the competition, but kudos to the trio, anyway.

So, my suggestion is – since you failed to see this in the theater – to rent buy the DVD. Invite some friends over.

Enjoy.

If you have the inclination, listen to the director/cinematographer commentary. Lots of good stuff for filmmakers that need some helpful hints on how to make things look pretty cool without blowing a bunch of cash on special FX.

BTW – this is a shout out to Vertigo Entertainment: Let Steve Gainer and David Crone shoot ‘Creepshow 4!’ And seriously consider Lexi Alexander. These people “get it.†