This 2nd version of the Punisher is a total clean reset of any previous versions of the movie, it assumes there has never been a Punisher movie prior to this one. So you don’t have to worry if you haven’t watched the previous one. The Malaysia censorship board was shitty as always where they tried to censor off the extra gore, violence and profanity used. This kinda spoilt the movie a bit. Oh yea they even named him ‘Pendenda’ which literally means Punisher in Bahasa Malaysia (sounds damn corny if you ask me). WARNING spoilers ahead!

During the opening credits (which I think was really cool btw) they showed a mob boss who was on trial had been set free due to a mistrial and the judge presiding that case was killed. Cut straight to a posh mansion scene with cars arriving where Billy Russoti (renamed himself the Jigsaw at a later point) is introduced here and from the first moment we see him his ruthless personality is made clear.

The Punisher a.k.a. Frank Castle, now played by Ray Stevenson, has been living in the shadows, underground some railway station within New York City and killing the bad guys for over four to five years. This military trained dude has an endless stockpile of weapons and cash (I don’t know where his income comes from). He also has a serious grudge against organized crime members, not only the specific Mafia thugs who murdered his family (which he had punished long ago), but all Italian-named mobsters, thugs and gangsters.

It didn’t take too long for the first action scene to arrive. The gore and violence in this first scene was kind of overdone, till I found myself laughing out loud in a good way. I didn’t thought that watching a bunch of baddies getting stabbed, beaten skewered and shot could be this much fun?

The movie made it very obvious that the NYPD is on Frank Castle’s (Punisher’s real name) side. They had this one man “task force” tracking him and trying to hunt him down – but instead they’re glad to have his help.

During the track down and hunt for Billy, Castle accidentally murdered an undercover FBI agent and he takes it extremely hard. BTW, this is the scene where Russoti turns into Jigsaw. You really gotta watch this scene to understand how he got that name.

Losing his own wife and two children in a mob shootout, attending the funeral of the agent he killed and seeing the surviving wife and young daughter of this agent caused Frank Castle give up as the Punisher. Next thing ya know, this dude Microchip, a guy who supplies him weapons convinced him that Jigsaw will be going after the wife and daughter, so Frank Castle decided to stay on and finish this last job.

In the meantime Jigsaw breaks his insane, homicidal maniac brother James out of an asylum in order to help him take revenge and kill the Punisher. This guy played by Doug Hutchison, his performance was one of the worst things about this movie. His act was pretty cheesy in my opinion. I actually prefer his brother Dominic West as Jigsaw (I liked his Italiano accent). He played the character well as a cold blooded hardcore Italian Mobster.

But Ray Stevenson as Frank Castle was a big No! No! I thought he had it this time, sad to say his act is below my expectations and frankly speaking he looks like a Steven Seagal clone. The only good thing about this movie is the non stop shoot out action and the original movie soundtrack (good tracks for those heavy metal fans!).

Rating: 2.5/5

Director: Lexi Alexander

Casts: Colin Salmon, Dash Mihok, Dominic West, Doug Hutchison, Julie Benz, Ray Stevenson, Wayne Knight

Free Punisher: Warzone Wallpapers!

Popularity: 8% [?]