The Punisher (1989)
Runtime: 89 minutes
Directed by: Mark Goldblatt
Starring: Dolph Lundgren, Lou Gossett, Jr., Jeroen Krabbe, Kim Miyori, Barry Otto
From: New World Pictures
I wasn’t originally going to write about this, but then I happened to watch it again with someone I know who has seen the 2004 version of the character starring Thomas Jane, but hasn’t seen the ’08 Punisher: War Zone (I doubt they’ll care for it due to how over the top it is in every which way) and didn’t even know that Dolph did his own version of the famous comic book character first. Me, I am not a comic book fan at all, I never want to be, and I don’t quite understand why it’s so popular amongst a large segment of the audience or how those fans can put up with all the alternate universe/killing off characters and bringing them back over and over again claptrap/and all that jazz. Sorry, but that scene is not for me at all. Point is, it doesn’t matter to me if any of the three Punisher movies follow the comic book character or not.
Now, with this movie it is definitely low-budget. I mean, it was filmed in Australia because it was cheaper that way (it was set in an unnamed “large U.S. city” in the movie) and it was from Roger Corman’s old cheap studio, New World Pictures. It wasn’t a big-budget extravaganza from one of the major studios. Hell, in the U.S. it wasn’t even theatrical and it instead went to home video two years later here. The person who I saw this with today prefers the ’04 version. I’ll have to respectfully disagree with them.
About this movie… it’s about police officer Frank Castle (the Dolph) who seeks revenge after a car bomb set up by the mob kills his family instead of him. He guns down 125 gangsters in the proceeding five years, weakening them to the point that they’re now only led by one figurehead (Krabbe). Seeing this, the Yakuza, led by one nasty woman (Miyori) swoops in to try and take over. They refuse her offers at first, but they quickly change their tune when she engineers the kidnapping of their children, planning on selling them to child slavery! Meanwhile, Castle, aided by an alcoholic bum who nevertheless is well-read and theatrical (Otto) decides to bust them out as hey, they’re children. Meanwhile, Jake Berkowitz (Gossett, Jr.; not to be stereotypical here, but old Lou here doesn’t look too Polish to me…), the ex-partner of Castle, tries to track him down.
I know, what a plot. It is goofy at times (although not as much so as the ’08 version) and you can tell it’s low-budget (to me, it looks like some parts of the movie were chopped out for whatever reason too; my point is proven if you look on YouTube, as you’ll find some deleted scenes that look like they’re from an old workprint), but it doesn’t mean it’s not entertaining. To me at least it’s a lot of fun. If the above description doesn’t entice you, that’s fine with me, but if it does sound appealing, it’s worth seeing. You get much in the way of violence, from guys getting mowed down with firearms to a harpoon attack to wild black spiked balls being used as weapons, and there’s even a hanging. The one big moment is when there’s an epic bus escape, with Frank as the driver.
I know that it’s sort of spoiling something, but I’m sure it’s no surprise that Castle would rescue the children. Plus, it has a moment that I’ll tell that I think will be a big sign of whether or not you’ll enjoy this. So, the bus escape happens and some henchmen chase after the bus. One of them jumps and has his hands on a partially open window. Two of the children-girls that look to be about 9 years old-pry off his fingers one by one and the henchmen falls off and ends up getting run over by accident by his buddies! If that gets a laugh out of you (as it does me) then you’ll probably enjoy this motion picture. If not… you can feel free to watch something else.
I’ll be back Thursday night with a new review.
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