Ray Stevenson Doles Out "Punishment" In New Flick

When we last left Frank Castle, he was less than his old homicidal self with the 2004’s flick finding Thomas Jane in more of a spoof than an adrenaline fueled film. In Punisher: War Zone, Frank is now played Ray Stevenson and he kicks up that divine insanity up into a fevered pitch.

“Sometimes, I’d like to get my hands on God,” mutters Castle as he hasn’t lost that fearlessness to take matters to the top. On this go-’round, the Marvel Comics hero is up against two demented brothers – Loony Bin Jim (Doug Hutchison) and Jigsaw (Dominic West). With torrents of blood and gore, the violence is so awful and outlandish that a scene, such as when The Punisher punches a literal hole in the face of a baddie, it’s comedy.

The script written by first-timers to the series – Nick Santora, Art Marcum and Matt Holloway – pen a faux-humanist story for Castle to have his war waged upon after killing an undercover agent. As Castle tries to protect the agent’s widow and daughter, he has his hands full with baddies and an investigating nuisance Paul Budiansky – who at one point just walks up and arrests the “crazy” – easy as pie.

With too many loose holes and slapstick violence, this blood-drenched actioner is still guaranteed to draw fans of same senses to come pack the theater in excess like moths to the proverbial flame.