The Punisher (Blu-ray)

      The Punisher walks through the world we all know, a world darkened by war, crime, cruelty and injustice. He has no superpowers to battle the evil he sees - only his fierce intelligence, his years of combat experience and, above all, his iron determination to avenge those wronged by society's villains. The impressively muscular chest of Tom Jane is the focal point of The Punisher, a movie based on a Marvel Comics superhero. Frank Castle (Jane, Deep Blue Sea) retires from the FBI, which means--as any moviegoer expects--that his family is toast. Howard Saint (John Travolta, Face/Off), a shady Florida businessman whose son was killed in Castle's last mission, orders a hit not only on Castle's wife and child, but also on his parents and a whole bunch of aunts, uncles, cousins, and so forth. The killers shoot Castle himself in the chest, but he inexplicably survives and--as any moviegoer expects--sets out to even the score. Implausibly, given his sometimes curious and roundabout methods, he succeeds. Also featuring Will Patton (Armageddon) as an oily thug, Laura Harring (Mulholland Drive) as Saint's fleshpot wife, and Rebecca Romijn-Stamos (X-Men) as a waitress with bad taste in men.

Comment:
    A must have in any blu-ray collection. If you loved this movie a you will enjoy it even more as he fights for justice against his enemies. The Russian fight is must more exciting. Very highly recommend it. This extended version answered some of the questions from the original movie version. Loved it!!! Now this movie makes sense, good plot, plenty of action and you are able to understand it and follow it. Looks clear and detailed on blu-ray.Being a comic book movie fan I was really satisfied with the way Thomas Jane's Punisher turned out. The Dolph Lundgren version betrayed the original character a bit and lost the some of the key points from the comics that made Frank Castle. As far as the vigilantes go, Punisher is up there with Blade and above Johnson's Daredevil and Ghost Rider. As for the movie itself, this is a great action movie with a unique story set up with great characters. Thomas Jane does a great job overall, although some lines throughout the film are a little campy. Travolta was highly criticized for his role, but I can't see why they chose to bash him. Travolta did a fine job at playing the villain. The neighbors Dave, Joan, and Bumpo are a decent addition to the film, unlike sidekick characters that are squeezed into other action films played by Shia LeBeouf. Most of the time I can't stand the comic relief in action films, but Ben Foster did a great job with this character. His performance was much better than Angel in X-Men3. Apart from Thomas Jane I would say that Will Patton (Quentin Glass) did a great justice to this film. He really took this role seriously and did a fantastic job. The film also has an excellent score. For a brutal action movie it was really nice to hear a really well thought musical score. The extended version really doesn't have that much to offer. The Kill-Bill-esque animated scene is neat but still not needed. It was also a better idea to take Jimmy Week's story out of the final cut. It was an interesting side-plot but the gruesome ending to it just made you hate the Punisher. The Russian fight scene was apparently extended but I saw no difference from the original. Bottom Line: Your not gonna miss the great parts of the Punisher if you don't buy the extended cut. Spider-man 2.1 and Daredevil (Extended) serve as much better extended versions. The Punisher is a great movie, don't get me wrong, but it didn't really need to come out with another version. We should have just put these scenes in a Deleted Scenes Special Feature.