10 Disappointing Action Movies You Should Die Before You See
7. The Punisher (2004)
3 different actors have played Frank Castle in 3 different movies, none of which are particularly distinguished, probably because The Punisher is essentially a supporting character, having been introduced in Spider-Man #129. Also, his backstory (the mob killed his family, so he started killing mobsters) is so banal that it doesnt deserve to be fleshed out in a 2 hour movie. But thats what we get, and a lot of wasted talent went into bringing it to the screen. No movie with Thomas Jane in the lead, John Travolta as the villain and Will Patton as his henchman should be this bland, especially when the director is the guy who wrote Die Hard With A Vengeance. Castle moves into an apartment complex where everybody knows who he is, yet Travolta still has trouble finding him so instead he hires The Russian, a 7 foot tall muscleman presumably on loan from a local circus. Even though hes capable of tearing a toilet out of the wall and using it to beat his opponent, hes surprisingly easy to defeat his skin is so sensitive that throwing boiling water in his face is enough to transform him into Freddy Krueger.
Ian Watson is the author of 'Midnight Movie Madness', a 600+ page guide to "bad" movies from 'Reefer Madness' to 'Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead.'