The Punisher (1989)

Directed by Mark Goldblatt. Starring Dolph Lundgren, Louis Gossett Jr., Jeroen Krabbé, Barry Otto, Kim Miyori, Nancy Everhard, Bryan Marshall, Brian Rooney. [R]

Marvel’s violent vigilante antihero gets the feature film treatment, and rather than waste time with a drawn-out origin story, we open with vengeful ex-cop Frank Castle (Lundgren) already at work waging a one-man war against organized crime, having reportedly slain 125 people in five years (and considering how many crooks he wipes out in the several days depicted in this movie, that number seems awfully low). It’s not a role that demands much nuance, but Lundgren’s dour, one-note performance can’t redeem the terse and boring dialogue he’s given. The script and direction leave much to be desired, too, with an uninteresting story elbowed aside for lots of noisy gunplay, but good luck trying to keep track of what’s happening or who’s shooting at who. A lot of pieces feel missing, ones that might have cleared up a few of the many, many plot holes, or given us a better idea of what makes Castle so relentlessly fixated on a lifetime of doling out lethal justice (“If you’re guilty, you’re dead”). Simply having a murdered family only goes so far in terms of motivation, and maybe it’s delved into deeper in the comics (of which I’ve only thumbed through a few issues), but it doesn’t get any attention here; also not getting any attention is who the heck the “Shake” (Otto) character is and why his drunk, Shakespeare-loving ass is so indebted to Castle (maybe it was halfheartedly explained, and I just couldn’t understand Lundgren’s monosyllabic muttering).Not without some value as a formulaic machine of destruction, and Gossett Jr. and Krabbé give it periodic surges of vitality as, respectively, Castle’s former partner and a Mafia crime boss, but unless you desperately need to fill your quota on mouthy and obnoxious mobsters, don’t punish yourself by watching. Fans will probably be disappointed by the absence of the Punisher’s signature skull symbol (like Superman without his cape or Captain America without his shield). A reboot of the character would come in 2004, starring Thomas Jane as Castle. Although the character was created by writer Gerry Conway and artists Ross Andru & John Romita Sr., Stan Lee served as a creative consultant.

38/100