The Punisher (1989)

Director:

Mark Goldblatt

Writer (WGA):

Boaz Yakin (written by)

Release Date:

5 October 1989 (West Germany)

Genre:

Action | Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

If society won't punish the guilty, he will.

Plot:

When Frank Castle's family is murdered by criminals, he wages war on crime as a vigilante assassin known only as the Punisher.

Plot Keywords:

Vigilante | Murder | Japanese | Yakuza | Marvel Comics

Cast

Dolph Lundgren	...	Frank Castle
Louis Gossett Jr.	...	Jake Berkowitz
Jeroen Krabbé	...	Gianni Franco (as Jeroen Krabbe)
Kim Miyori	...	Lady Tanaka
Bryan Marshall	...	Dino Moretti
Nancy Everhard	...	Sam Leary
Barry Otto	...	Shake
Brian Rooney	...	Tommy Franco
Zoshka Mizak	...	Tanaka's Daughter
Kenji Yamaki	...	Sato
Hirofumi Kanayama	...	Tomio
Larry McCormick	...	TV Newsreader
Todd Boyce	...	Terrone
Lani John Tupu	...	Laccone (as Larney Tupu)
John Negroponte	...	Musso

Runtime:

89 min | Finland:76 min (heavily cut) (1990) (1995)

Country:

Australia | USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Spain:18 | Finland:K-16 (heavily cut) (1995) | Finland:K-16 (heavily cut) (1990) | Netherlands:16 | Finland:K-18 (2006) (self applied) (film festival rating) | Canada:16+ (Quebec) | USA:R (cut) (certificate #29751) | Canada:R (Manitoba/Ontario) | Australia:R | France:-12 | New Zealand:R18 | Norway:18 (video premiere) | Sweden:(Banned) | UK:18 (cut) | West Germany:18 (cut) | Germany:BPjM Restricted

Filming Locations:

Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Company:

New World Pictures (Australia)

Trivia:

Although it wasn't released theatrically in the United States due to New World Pictures' bankruptcy, the movie opened in theaters in most territories.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: In a long shot of rack-torture scene, everyone is clearly standing on a place-marker.

Quotes:

The Punisher: I PUNISH THE GUILTY!
Drunk: And as a result the innocent must suffer?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003)

Soundtrack:

Vicious Minds

Better Than People Give Credit For

No, this is not CITIZEN KANE. But it is an entertaining film that did make a somewhat unbelievable Marvel "hero" to celluloid.

Lundgren plays Frank Castle, a former NYPD detective (originally a military special ops expert in the comic) who loses his family to a mob hit. This pushes his already unstable personality over the edge, and he becomes a one-man judge, jury, and executioner. The VERY underrated Louis Gossett Jr. plays his former partner, determined to find him and keep him out of the gas chamber.

This movie is quite a decent action film. It actually delves quite deeply into the characters' motivations, their histories, their personalities. I agree with earlier comments that, out of the lot of action stars, Lundgren does bring at least some dramatic chops to the role. I really couldn't imagine Schwarzenegger playing this part, though Stallone or Willis might have been better choices.

The action sequences are done quite well for a low-budget film. The director, Mark Goldblatt, served as editor on films such as TERMINATOR 1 & 2, the underrated PREDATOR 2, TRUE LIES, STARSHIP TROOPERS, ARMAGEDDON, and PEARL HARBOR, so he definitely has knowledge of how to properly compose an action sequence. He also served as Paul Verhoeven's 2nd Unit Director on the original ROBOCOP.

The movie is rather tough to find, and though it strays away a bit from the source material, it does manage to flesh out a rather one-dimensional character.

A new version of THE PUNISHER is now being prepped, starring DREAMCATCHER's Thomas Jane as Frank Castle and directed by Jonathan Hensleigh.