Punisher: War Zone (2008)

Director:

Lexi Alexander

Writers (WGA):

Nick Santora (written by) and
Art Marcum (written by) ...

Release Date:

5 December 2008 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

Vengeance has a name.

Plot:

After hunting down and killing hundreds of violent criminals, Frank Castle, aka The Punisher, faces his most deadly foe yet: Jigsaw. |

Plot Keywords:

Woman's Neck Broken | One Man Army | Wall Safe | Decapitation | Fire Fight

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Ray Stevenson	...	Frank Castle
Dominic West	...	Billy / Jigsaw
Doug Hutchison	...	Loony Bin Jim
Colin Salmon	...	Paul Budiansky
Wayne Knight	...	Micro
Dash Mihok	...	Martin Soap
Julie Benz	...	Angela
Stephanie Janusauskas	...	Grace
Mark Camacho	...	Pittsy
Romano Orzari	...	Nicky
Keram Malicki-Sánchez	...	Ink
Larry Day	...	Agent Miller
Ron Lea	...	Captain Ross
Tony Calabretta	...	Saffiotti
T.J. Storm	...	Maginty

Also Known As:

The Punisher 2 (USA) (working title)
The Punisher: Welcome Back, Frank (USA) (working title)
The Untitled Punisher Sequel (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated R for pervasive strong brutal violence, language and some drug use.

Runtime:

103 min

Country:

USA | Canada | Germany

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

UK:18 | Singapore:M18 | Ireland:18 | Japan:R-15 | Australia:MA | Malaysia:18SG | Philippines:R-13 (MTRCB) | Mexico:C | Argentina:13 | South Korea:18 | Finland:K-18 | Norway:15 | New Zealand:R18 | Netherlands:16 | USA:R (certificate #44752)

Filming Locations:

Brossard, Québec, Canada

Company:

Lionsgate

Trivia:

Director Lexi Alexander said that she was against using the Skull emblem on Ray Stevenson's costume. However, fans wanted it to be more prominent than it was in the 2004 film. She described this design as "pre-schoolish" in an interview and eventually compromised with a degraded and worn skull image (similar to the 2004 movie).

Goofs:

Factual errors: Glock pistols are heard being cocked. Glocks do not have external hammers so they cannot be thumb-cocked.

Quotes:

Special Agent Paul Budiansky: Would you mind explaining to me, how a handcuffed criminal in custody escapes from your locked car?
Martin Soap: [embarrassed] Castle's a slippery one.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "The Rotten Tomatoes Show: Miss March/Race to Witch Mountain/Sunshine Cleaning (#1.3)" (2009)

Soundtrack:

Showdown

Hands Down one of the Best Punisher adaption, and one of the best comic movies ever!

Just got back from this tonight and I was not disappointed! This is a better adaption then the 2004 version and 1989 version. For me, Ray Stevenson is THE PUNISHER!!!!I like Dolph and Tom's interpretation are good (though Tom Jane's performance is more of a Taxi Driver character then a Punisher), Stevenson was the best and showed a wider range of emotion, a great voice, fighting, guns, and all together look and feel of Frank Castle.

This is one of the best adaption of a comic in a long time, the back story for Frank Castle was right on target and though Jigsaw's origin is modified its a better origin. The casting for all characters was great (way to go Wayne for Microchip and Dominic for Jigsaw). Everyone fit perfect.

The story for the movie felt like a comic book, as The Punisher takes out criminals and how Jigsaw and his brother Looney Bin Jim wants revenge makes for great entertainment. But I do not want to spoil anything for moviegoers, if you enjoy comics, action, or revenge movies, check this one out.

For all the people who reviewed this movie and either bitch about the violence or didn't like this incarnation of The Punisher had no idea about the character nor even read the comic book or didn't start reading until after the 2004 version. So this is a great tribute to almost all incarnation of the Punisher in the comics and even a nod to the 1989 version too.

Though I like all the Punisher movies, I liked the 1989 version better then 2004 version, I think this is better then the 1989 and best adaption (it may seem like a broken record, but I feel it is necessary).

By all mean check out one of the best action and comic book movie in a long time. This brings back what action should be like. I too hope this will have a good box office return, as well for rentals and sales to bring more sequels! The producers are already in talks in for more and Barricuda could be the next villain!

Way to go Lexi and Ray and everybody involved working on this film, thank you for bringing back the PUNISHER!!!