4. Punisher: War Zone (2008)
The previous cinematic outings of The Punisher in 1989 (starring Dolph Lundgren) and 2004 (starring Thomas Jane) had been fairly perfunctory. Indeed, describing them as distinctly average is probably being far too kind. This version released in 2009 stars Ray Stevenson as the vengeful vigilante waging a bloody one man war against crime. Although this was a reboot in what was the first outing for the more adult Marvel Knights movie imprint, it feels nothing like an origin story. Within five minutes of the credits The Punisher has decapitated a mafia crime boss, snapped his wife's neck and is hanging from a chandelier firing twin machine guns and eviscerating henchmen left, right and centre. It's a frenetic opening and the pace rarely slackens. Directed by Lexi Alexander, who made the awful Green Street, it perfectly recreates panels from The Punisher MAX comics. The relentless dark humour is pitch perfect. The gore, violence and bloodshed are wonderfully over the top and brilliantly tongue in cheek. The Punisher fixes his broken nose by snapping it back into place with a broken pencil, and the biggest laugh of the movie sees him expressing his disdain for Parkour through the use of a rocket launcher. Dominic West brings his accomplished actorly chops to his role of chief villain Jigsaw. He chews up the scenery with aplomb in an enthusiastic performance that's reminiscent of Jack Nicholson's Joker in Tim Burton's Batman. The critics gave this movie a unanimous thumbs down, and when I went to see it I was literally the only person in the theatre. Everyone missed that this was a deliberate throwback to eighties action flicks and, as a movie based on a comic book, it's a thrilling tribute to camp ultraviolence. This isn't Akira Kurosawa's Punisher: War Zone, or Terence Malick's Punisher: War Zone. It's easily one of the best comic adaptations of recent years.