On the face of it Marvel’s skull wearing vigilante The Punisher seems to be the easiest of their stable of characters to get right on film. All you need to do is get some beefcake who looks good with a gun, tool him up, set the movie in a rain soaked city like New York or Chicago and get a director who knows how to do noir and stage a good shootout. Of course it helps if you have a good script as well from a writer who respects the source material. So why after three attempts, has Hollywood never quite got Frank Castle?
First in the early nineties we got Mark Goldblatt’s interpretation starring Dolph Lundgren. One of many inferior comic book movies greenlit in the wake of Tim Burton’s Batman in 1989. Dolph certainly looks the part as Frank Castle even if he doesn’t have a massive skull on his chest. The problem is with this version is that they make Castle a killing machine who wouldn’t look out of place in a Terminator sequel. The makers mistake mumbling for character, and Dolph’s version comes across as some kind of homicidal junkie. Its fair enough that Castle has lost everything but the guy is still human and this is what makes his character someone to care about. More recently we got Lexi Alexander’s version Punisher: War Zone. This time we got Ray Stevenson in the part and a very different tone. Punisher:War Zone is so over the top in its comic violence and tone that its got more in common with Joel Schumacher’s interpretation of Batman rather than the comics. Stevenson looks good as Frank Castle but lacks charisma and again you don’t care. This time they get a villain ripped from the pages of the comic with Dominic West’s Jigsaw. With his scarred up features West doesn’t so much go over the top with the performance as in to orbit. its hard to take seriously and is one of the recent action movies to go over the top as a stylistic choice rather than anything to do with the story.
In the middle of this we had the 2004 version which to date is the most successful but still a deeply flawed movie in its own right. Screenwriter Jonathan Hensleigh took the directorial reigns for this one and cast Thomas Jane as Frank Castle. The movie begins with Castle as a happily married father who also happens to be an undercover agent for the FBI. During his final job before he seeks semi-retirement,the son of powerful mob boss Howard Saint (John Travolta) is killed. Following the wishes of his wife (Laura Elena Harring), Saint orders a hit on Castle and his family. Saint’s men track down the Castle family to an island getaway and proceed to kill everyone including Castle, or so they thought. Castle recovers, nursed back to health by a kind local man and swears revenge. He does this by attacking Saints business first and then creating disharmony and suspicion amongst his employees and his closest allies.
There are three BIG problems with The Punisher. First the location, setting the film in sunny Florida does very little for the film. The story really needs to be set in an urban wasteland with the decay mirroring the decay of Castle’s soul as he goes deeper and deeper into living only for revenge. Watching the movie and its pristine and sunny locations you can’t help but think that Castle should just chill out and enjoy a cocktail. The second problem is the decision to cast John Travolta as the villain. All you can think is ‘that’s movie star John Travolta playing a baddie’. The role really should have gone to an unknown so that our sympathies lie with Castle the whole way through. As it is you get a lot of Travolta in this film, and the role isn’t really as beefy as it should have been with a major movie star in the role. Howard Saint is really no better written then the typical villain in your average direct to DVD action pic and because he is on screen so much it really shows just how bad a decision this was. The third and perhaps biggest problem with the movie is its script. For starters its too long and a lot of the second act feels like padding. I can’t decide if having Castle finally go on a rampage in the last act was because the mobsters upped the stakes after his fight with the big Russian or if he should have just done this half an hour before. A lot of the scenes in the middle are taken from the comic and whilst pretty cool, they feel like padding out a film that didn’t really have a second act.
Ironically, one of the things that I complain about above is also one of the good things. The script doesn’t opt for an all out bloodbath the way the first and third movies do and this was a good decision. Castle attacks Saints finances and associates before the storming the night club scene in the last act, its as if he is unsure as to how this whole vigilante business works and is slowly building up to the out and out killing that he knows will be his only choice. The last scene highlights this really well with a voiceover and shot of Castle standing on the bridge. During this scene there can be no doubt that the man once known as Frank Castle is gone, replaced by the moral vacuum that is The Punisher. Thomas Jane owns the role of Frank Castle, its one of the biggest shames in comic book movie history that we don’t have more films in this series starring him. Alas Jane didn’t see eye to eye with the direction they were going in with the third film and left the production. He manages to make the role his own, in the quiet moments you can see his humanity slipping away from him and he also looks the part in the action sequences. Jane’s castle is also vulnerable rather than a killing machine mowing down mobsters. He gets wounded, in one scene he gets almost beaten to death. Making the hero someone who can almost die adds to the dramatic tension, a quality that many action films lacked before Die Hard in 1988. Speaking of the action sequences, they are incredibly well staged. For a film that should have been grittier, its almost a blessing that they decided to go slick as we were spared the shaky cam carnage that has ruined many a modern action film. The opening slaughter of Castle’s family is really well done without feeling lurid. The previously mentioned fight with the big Russian as played by former wrestler Kevin Nash is also brilliant, funny and brutal at the same time. The final scene is also really good and tense until the cheesetastic flaming car skull and disposal of the main villain.
So a bad film sure, but until Hollywood gets it right its also the best version we have of Marvel’s number one vigilante.
by Chris Holt
I went back and forth in my mind as to whether or not to do a big summer blockbuster preview this year, I decided against it as to be honest, I just couldn’t get excited about anything on the release schedules this year. Summer 2010 looks to be the most bland and boring season of movies for quite some time and no doubt the weather will also suck. The last time I remember being this underwhelmed was 2001 where we had the meh likes of Pearl Harbor, Swordfish, Jurassic Park 3 and Burtons Planet of the Apes. I suppose if all you are expecting is blocks to be busted then there are some distractions, but nothing as mouthwatering a prospect as a third Batman movie or something directed by a Spielberg or a Cameron.
May has kicked off with Iron Man 2 which really didn’t live up to the promise of the first movie. Whereas most superhero sequels tend to kick it up a notch, Iron Man 2 actually settled back down after the high flying original. Its not that there were any faults with the action scenes or special effects or even the performances. Iron Man 2 just had a saggy script which took far too long to get to the good bits and most of the mid section felt like padding. A couple of weeks later we get Ridley Scott’s Robin Hood with Russell Crowe in the title role of he who robs from the rich to give to the poor. Early word on this has not been promising with a script re-jigged from a potentially interesting concept of telling the story from the Sheriff of Nottingham’s perspective, with Robin as the bad guy. The problem is with this movie is I feel the same way that I felt about Tim Burton’s Alice In Wonderland, it just feels like an obvious choice. So Ridley Scott is doing Robin Hood, Okay, so what? I’ll wait for the DVD. At the end of the month and after the potential disaster that is Robin Hood, we get a couple of things that also seem kind of predictable and uninspired. There is a Sex and the City sequel coming at you like a pair of red sparkly Jimmy Choo’s flung from a speeding New York taxi cab. This will no doubt have hordes of women flocking to cinemas whilst the menfolk sit in pubs and watch world cup matches all day. I’ve not seen the first movie and I have no real desire to, to me its like wearing ladies underwear. Yeah its new and different for a while but you have no real need to do it every summer. On the same day we get the latest Jerry Bruckheimer Pirates of the Caribbean wannabe, Prince of Persia – the sands of time. Jake Gyllenhaal certainly looks the part as the title character and Gemma Arterton is the new hotness. For gods sake though its based on a video game and were it not for the people behind the camera then we would probably be looking at an out and out turkey of epic proportions. It probably wont do Pirates size business but may be a pleasant way to spend a rainy afternoon with the kids.
Things get a bit more interesting in June, surprising really considering this is when the world cup will be in full flow. First week of June we get Splice which to me is probably the most interesting film of the summer after Christopher Nolan’s Inception. Splice is a tale of genetic engineering gone wrong in the most deadly way and comes from director Vicenzo Natali who made Cube and Cypher. It stars Adrien Brody and Sarah Polley and apparently goes to some really weird places with its plot. Whether or not it will make much of a splash is another matter but genre fans should be very pleased. The same weekend we get Get him to the Greek, the latest comedy from Forgetting Sarah Marshall director Nicholas Stoller and starring Russell Brand as that films comedy British rock star Aldous Snow and Jonah Hill as the hapless intern trying to get Snow to a venue in LA. Forgetting Sarah Marshall was a bit underwhelming compared to a lot of comedies of the last few years and Russell Brand is a bit one note at times. Still this could hit big or could be a complete misfire. June rumbles on with Joe Carnahan’s completely over the top no doubt A-Team reimagining. A film that is based on a cheesy old TV show and looks like it could go either way into camp farce or all action thrill ride, the jury is undecided. Oh there is a bloody Karate Kid remake the same weekend with Will Smith’s kid Jaden in the Ralph Macchio role and Jackie Chan in the Mister Miyagi role of old master. This is a story firmly rooted in the 1980’s to me, belonging in the martial arts boom of that decade. If they let Chan loose with some of his old magic as he takes on a bunch of emo kids who are the new Cobra Kai then count me in otherwise I’ll wait until its on channel 5. Toy Story 3 comes out the middle of the month and its probably the one to beat this summer. Its Pixar for a start, its also in 3D and its the third in a massive franchise. As long as they keep the heart of the first two then this should be a great time at the flicks. We also get Jonah Hex the same weekend starring Josh Brolin as DC Comics scarred gunslinger. Problem is the movie has been slated to bits in preview screenings and was also the subject of re-shoots. Probably one to put in the interesting failure category with 1999’s Wild Wild West. Knight and Day stars Tom Cruise as a spy who gets involved with Cameron Diaz’s ditzy blond. The first trailer for this made me groan but the most recent one seems to suggest that Cruise’s character may actually be crazy delusional lunatic, which would be a novelty and would make it more interesting than just another Mission Impossible retread. Plus director James Mangold is always reliable even if he hasn’t really made a big budget action movie before.
July is where it gets interesting, if you can look past the next installment in the bloody Twilight franchise, Eclipse which will no doubt make millions from the screaming masses who demand nothing more than a Buffy/Angel rip off and a good looking bloke who sparkles in the sunshine. First off we get the latest effort from M.Night Shyamalan,The Last Airbender. Based on the popular animated series and looking suitably epic and glossy. Of course his last two films were Lady in the Water and The Happening so his touch has possibly deserted him. Warner’s also made the decision to convert the film into 3D prior to release which these days you can take as a sign that they have a possible dud on their hands. July also brings us the two biggest geek projects on internet radars in 2010. Christopher Nolan is a director that seems to be able to do no wrong after his triumphant Batman sequel and he has been given a 200 million dollar budget to bring to us Inception, a film that possibly involves stealing secrets from peoples dreams but we aren’t sure as the plot is shrouded in secrecy. The film stars Leonardo Di Caprio as well as Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Tom Hardy, Cillian Murphy, Ellen Page and Michael Caine. Will it go over mainstream audiences heads or could we be talking about the next Matrix? we’ll see. We also get a long time coming third Predator movie produced by Robert Rodriguez and directed by Nimrod Antal. This one is set on the Predators home world and has decided to go with actual actors instead of beefcakes so we get Adrien Brody in his second genre lead of the summer. If they can recapture some of the thrills and cool make up effects of the first two movies then this could be a winner, but do modern audiences care anymore?
August wraps up the summer in style starting with the latest effort from Adam McKay and Will Ferrell, The Other Guys. This follows the non action hero buddy cops, the guys who work at desks and manage to get a big case. The trailer was very funny for this one and it looks as though it could be a big winner if they get the action spoof thing just right without going into Naked Gun style parody. Edgar Wrights latest movie also debuts in August, Scott Pilgrim vs.The World is based on the comic which follows Scott Pilgrim as he tries to defeat his new girlfriends seven evil exes. Visually the trailer is unlike nothing we have ever seen before, merging 80’s Capcom beat em up’s with your modern comic book based movie. Will it work for the modern audience though? Sure to be a ton of fun in a similar throw back fashion is The Expendables. Sylvester Stallone’s new directorial effort is a men on a mission movie that stars Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Bruce Willis and some bloke called Arnold Schwarzenegger. If nothing else this should get a decent showing for nostalgia purposes and the over thirty set. Silly season comes to a close with Piranha 3D, a remake helmed by Alexandre Aja who also made the great Hills Have Eyes remake. Expect gore and humor in equal measure but in 3D!
So to sum up then, the ones to look for:
1. Inception
2. Splice
3. Predators
4. The Other Guys
5. Scott Pilgrim vs The World
Problem is to get to these you have to wade through two months of mediocre looking dreck. Roll on the Autumn!
“This is a sick movie”, “we know what you want.” Tom Six spoke to the audience at FrightFest introducing a movie that claims to be 100% medically accurate, but that ultimately suffers for not being anatomically imaginative (as well as accurate) and sicker for it. It has a central idea – linking human beings from mouth to anus grafting one to the other, in doing so making a human chain – a centipede. More of the insufficiencies of this premise later….
The development of the characters is very flawed. The success of this operation, carried out by a mad scientist (played by Dieter Laser), relies on him finding young students stranded (a la Hostel), who no-one is going to love, miss and have looked for (as always).
The victims in this instance are two American girls and a Japanese boy. They could and would have overpowered this stick insect of a man at any proceedings during the film. A lot of the middle section centres, quite uselessly on a failed escape by one of the girls – for her to be told she was to become the mid section as a punishment. There is an underlying reference consistently made to Nazism. This is one man’s vision of the future of mankind. The mad scientist – here is an eminent Siamese Twin surgeon of such world renown he can live in an isolated hospital/house in the middle of no-where with no-one ever calling him to perform disjoining operations. He has surreal portraits of twins co-joined around his house to remind the audience of what it is he does for his day job – but there is no backstory: why this eminent surgeon so humanitarian but so twisted is given no airing at all. We are left to believe that he and he alone can conduct these operations and that this is the future.
But now to the all important body stuff. Anatomical horror is wonderfully represented by Cronenberg and Crichton in modern culture. Cronenberg and Crichton used to do the research and would use plausibility in the story so as to make the possibilities it portrayed feasible. Yes, it is possible to join the digestive tract in human beings and it is also true that peristalsis (the wave of motion that carries food through the various absorption processes) would act from one body to the other if co-linked. But waste is not just carried and exited through the intestines but also the bladder. The body also vomits, belches, farts – the biggest anatomical truth that is overlooked is that the second and third bodies in the chain would be digesting waste and would die.
The possibilities of overcoming these other truths would have presented a far better challenge and would have made a far better horror story.
Thankfully the film is redeemed by a few factors: the police intervene, which would in essence happen in this atmosphere of well contained isolation. The setting is truly convincing in portraying menace: the beauty and comfort of the house belying the clinical horror in progress. The performance of the first in the chain (Akihiro Kitamura) is very good indeed and it is he – more so than the plucky heroine that shines as the best performer of the lot.
The emotional elements are there as the girls consistently love and support each other, holding hands throughout the ordeal.
This is the first sequence. During the Q & A after the premiere, the director, who should really have been booed, told the audience that the second sequence was to involve 15 co-joined. Considering the indelible flaws in the first sequence, its fifteen too many.
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