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Punisher War Zone: 2-Disc Special Edition
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray A - America - Lions Gate Home Entertainment Review written by and copyright: Noor Razzak (17th April 2009). |
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The Film
 Third time is a charm right? You'd think so, but the folks at Marvel seem to have a problem with getting "The Punisher" right on screen. The first effort was 1988's "The Punisher" starring Dolph Lundgren, a film that was a total mess. It would be 16 years before fans would see Frank Castle return to the screen, this time in the hands of Thomas Jane, who did a decent job in the role. The theatrical version of the film was very flawed and underperformed, I almost walked out when I originally saw it theatrically (but I stayed hoping it would get better). Like many I favor the "Extended Cut" (reviewed here), there were still flaws but overall it felt like a better film. Strong sales on DVD would allow for a sequel. 4 years later director Lexi Alexander would deliver a much darker, and much more violent film in "Punisher War Zone" however it's still a flawed franchise and the film just didn't quite live up to expectations (yet again). The film's development history plays out like a roller coaster ride, the film originally had actor Thomas Jane attached to reprise his role, the script's development took longer than expected and eventually Jane dropped out having been with the production seeing through several scripts that didn't meet his expectations. Eventually after a director search, Lexi Alexander was attached to helm the project. Initially she passed on the project but assurances from the studio that she could take the film in a different direction and recast the lead meant she was on board. Technically this film is a sequel (however reboot could easily be bandied about as elements have changed since the previous film, for example the death of Frank's family as seen in a flashback occur differently than in the previous film). "Punisher War Zone" continues to follow the vigilante Frank Castle AKA The Punisher (Ray Stevenson) as he pursues the mob, Castle accidentally shoots an undercover FBI agent and in the process disfigures mob enforcer Billy Russoti (Dominic West) during a raid on their operations. Meanwhile agent Paul Budiansky (Colin Salmon) works with the NYPD on their "Punisher Task Force" with the task of bringing Frank Castle to justice for the vigilantly killings he's been responsible for. That's not the only problem Frank has, as Russoti, now mutilated and going by the name of "Jigsaw" and working with his psychotic brother Loony Bin Jim (Doug Hutchison) is out for revenge and assembles an army of crooks, killers, gang members and mobsters to take him out using the widow (Julie Benz) of the slain FBI agent as bait. Improving on the previous film the filmmaker's chose a more appropriate and dark New York (although shot in Montreal, which doubled as New York City) setting for the film rather than sunny Florida, the dark and dreary city adds to the film's overall tone. The darkness of the alleys combined with the way the film was shot all add to this effect. Furthermore the film's over-the-top violence makes this feel like a much different film than the previous incarnations. It's a bit much at times and occasionally laughable but for gore hounds it'll entertain. It was at one point reported (Aintitcoolnews.com reported it originally) that the film's director was booted off the project, there seemed to be some disagreement between the studio and the director about the cut of the film (supposedly about the intense violence or perhaps intending to release a softer 'PG-13' film as apposed to the 'R' which it received). In the end these were all rumors as the film's cinematographer confirmed that the director was still on board and the 'R' rated film would remain intact. In many ways this hard 'R' rated film portrays the character in the manner he was intended... but there's nothing left for the imagination. Some of the problems this film faces include its rather flat story, there's no surprises here as it's a rudimentary story arc. There's nothing here we haven't already seen in other films, furthermore the emotionality of Frank's character is all but removed here. Stevenson plays the role fairly two dimensionally. Stevenson may look real good as Frank, but unfortunately looks aren't enough. I actually missed Jane in the lead, he added a certain flawed aspect to Frank that's sorely missing from Stevenson's cold single-expression version. The other main problem I had was with the villain Jigsaw, the entire time I thought West's portrayal was just a bad impression of a wise guy, or to be more specific Paulie from "The Sopranos" (1999-2007) as a young man... it was silly and I was never frightened by him (aside from his gruesome make-up) yes he's a jerk, he's arrogant and has a short fuse but I was never convinced that West did nothing outside of an 'impression' of the character. I doubt we'll see another "Punisher" film anytime soon, as this one only managed to bring in under a third of its $35 million budget theatrically, on record it's the worst performing film in the Marvel catalogue. It's not official but you can consider this the final nail in Frank Castle's coffin.
Video
Presented in the film's original theatrical ratio of 2.35:1 this high-definition 1080p 24/fps image has been created with AVC MPEG-4 compression. As mentioned before the film's tone is very dark, thus the photography matches this mood and the overall image is very dark. The entire film takes place at night and the locations are gritty and dirty. The blacks are appropriately deep but it was hard to make out backgrounds at times. The film's photography uses only a limited color palette, this was done to simulate the look of the comic and the transfer does a decent job of accurately rendering the colors. The image is mostly sharp but there was some softness detected, texture and details look good in close-ups and the film's grain was moderate. Overall it's a fine looking image that nearly makes the top marks but just falls short by a fraction.
Audio
Two audio tracks are included here in English DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 surround mixed at 48kHz/24-bit as well as a Dolby Digital 5.1 surround track in French. For the purposes of this review I chose to view the film with its DTS-HD audio, and this soundtrack does not disappoint. The film is packed with action scenes, gun battles and stunts and the audio presents there moments with total impact. The aggressive mix makes excellent use of the sound space placing viewers in the middle of the carnage. The bullet hits and explosions sound natural and the bass kicks in well during these scenes. The film's music blasts loudly over the channels and dialogue is clean and free from distortion. The mix is imposing and loud and should be viewed at the maximum volume level. Optional subtitles are included in English, English for the hearing impaired and Spanish.
Extras
Lionsgate has released this film as a 2-Disc 'Special Edition' and features an audio commentary, five featurettes, the film's theatrical trailer, bonus trailers, a couple of interactive features and a digital copy of the film. Below is a closer look at these supplements. DISC ONE: First up is the feature-length audio commentary by director Lexi Alexander and cinematographer Steve Gainer. These two start out welcoming viewers to this fairly scene-specific track as the director comments on the scenes as they play out, various facts are spouted on the filming, the locations, the cast and story elements. The cinematographer talks of his various tricks and process of shooting the film in keeping with the director's color aesthetic. Alexander talks about the violence and taking elements from the 'Max' comic book series of "The Punisher" among other things including the use of second unit more than usual in order to stick to the tight schedule and finish on time. Overall it's a fairly average track that doesn't really surprise. Next up is "The Making of 'Punisher: War Zone'" featurette which runs for 9 minutes 2 seconds, this is a fairly basic EPK promotional clip as it features the usual talking head interviews with cast and crew taking us through the basics of the film's plot and characters as well as featuring some behind-the-scenes footage from the production. "Meet Jigsaw" is the next featurette and runs a brief 3 minutes 34 seconds, here we get introduced to the character as actor Dominic West is interviewed about playing the villain and the various challenges he faced bringing this character to life. Following that is the "Weapons of The Punisher" featurette which runs for 4 minutes 39 seconds. Just as the title suggests this is a look at the 125 weapons featured in the film, mainly focuses on the weapons that Frank Castle uses in the film but also the weapons of the villains. It also looks at the gun training the Stevenson underwent in preparation for the production. Although brief this is my favorite clip on this disc as I found it interesting the choice of weapons the filmmakers chose. "Training to Become The Punisher" featurette runs for 5 minutes 47 seconds, in this clip we get a look at the training that Stevenson was put through to play this character, the clip covers the military techniques, clearing rooms and firing weapons in this behind-the-scenes look. Stevenson comments on the grueling nature of the training which also includes fight training and on being in excellent shape. "Creating the Look of the Film" featurette runs for 2 minutes 46 seconds, and covers the process of determining on how the film would be shot. The director wanted the film to look like the comic book and thus each scene was shot with no more than three primary colors. Each scene's content dictated the choice of colors used. Also featured on this disc is the film's original theatrical trailer which runs for 1 minute 8 seconds. There are also bonus trailers for: - "Crank 2: High Voltage" which runs for 2 minutes 32 seconds. - "The Haunting in Connecticut" which runs for 2 minutes 28 seconds. - "Transporter 3" which runs for 1 minute 12 seconds. - "Saw V" which runs for 32 seconds. - "The Burrowers" which runs for 2 minutes 10 seconds. - "The Spirit" which runs for 2 minutes 13 seconds. - "Hulk Vs." which runs for 2 minutes 29 seconds. The disc also features some Blu-ray exclusive extras the first is the BD-Live feature "MoLog" which is an interactive feature, this can only be accessed with profile 2.0 players and functions as a live in-movie blog. You can also bookmark your favorite scenes from the film. DISC TWO: This disc includes a digital copy of the film for portable players.
Overall
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