Though I may have mentioned this in other reviews, it bears repeating that there were films made based on Marvel characters before there was a Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).  Some of these were good, many of these were bad, but all of them bear that familiar trademark logo of the comic book company that made Stan Lee famous.  Thus, I have to specify that I will be talking today about the 2004 iteration of The Punisher, not its barely heard from 1989 predecessor with Dolph Lundgren or Punisher: War Zone (2008).  Of these, I have only seen the 2004 iteration, which holds a special place in my heart given that it was (very obviously, if you know what you are looking at) filmed in my backyard in Tampa, Florida.  It gets kind of silly when they try to pass off Mullet Key (more commonly known as Fort DeSoto) as Puerto Rico.  If you can get past this geographical oddity . . . you still have a pretty bad movie, but not because of such gaffes.  As often happens, my disagreements are more of a philosophical and spiritual nature.

There is no subtlety to the location with the opening shot of The Punisher: it is, in fact, Tampa.  Frank Castle (Thomas Jane), currently working undercover for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) as international arms dealer Otto Krieg, is about to make a deal with Bobby Saint (James Carpinello).  He is the son of local crime boss Howard Saint (John Travolta), and Bobby is accompanied by Saint family lackey Mickey Duka (Eddie Jemison).  As the exchange is made, law enforcement officers appear on the scene and it looks as if Otto is fatally shot.  While his death is clearly faked, Bobby’s is not, a victim of being caught in the crossfire.  While Frank heads into a retirement and a family reunion in Puerto Rico (see above), Howard and his wife, Livia Saint (Laura Harring), are understandably upset about having to bury one of their sons.  Howard wants to know who is responsible, and somehow they land on Frank’s name even though he did not directly kill Bobby.  At Bobby’s funeral, Howard friend and closest lieutenant, Quentin Glass (Will Patton), hands the Saints an envelope containing a record of Frank’s FBI history and extensive military career in the special forces.  Quentin also knows that Frank is in Puerto Rico with his family.  It is Livia that orders the massacre of everyone at this gathering.  Once the shooting starts, Maria (Samantha Mathis) and Will Castle (Marcus Johns), respectively, Frank’s wife and son, run and hide while almost everyone else dies amongst a flurry of bullets.  Frank is not one of those initial dead, but is separated from Maria and Will as they try to make their escape.  He catches up with his family only to find them killed.  He is left alone to face Quentin and John Saint (James Carpinello), Howard and Livia’s other offspring.  They overpower Frank and leave him for dead.  And that is the end of the movie.  Thank you for making it this far.  Please do not forget to subscribe by putting your email in the text box below.  Okay, that is not the conclusion, but you should still subscribe to The Legionnaire.  Anyway, Frank recovers from his wounds, take a few weapons left by his father in the nearby house, and heads back to Tampa to do what the title suggests.  He moves into a seedy apartment with an odd cast of characters that I will introduce as needed.  The main point is that it serves as his base of operations for the war he is about to wage against the Saints.  Before he can get started in earnest, he needs information, and he plans to get it from Mickey.  Because he had been there on the night Bobby died, Mickey is captured by Frank and basically tricked into helping with Frank’s efforts.  Either way, Frank is given a detailed picture of the Saints business as well as their daily schedule.  From there, he is able to come up with a pretty devious way of exacting his vengeance.  There is plenty of violence, of course.  However, he also manages to convince Howard that Livia is having an affair with Quentin.  All it takes is a few well-placed bits of evidence, and Mickey dropping some hints as well, to tip the already paranoid Howard to murder his best friend and his wife.  As the bloody tale winds through its expected schlock, Frank becomes the defender of his three neighbors, who decide to make him dinner one evening in gratitude for his efforts.  Between courses, Joan (Rebecca Romijn) makes a pass at Frank, though he says that he is not the man for her.  He then goes back to his own apartment, only to be greeted by a hired thug going by the name The Russian (Kevin Nash).  A fierce fistfight ensues, with Frank barely getting the upper hand and his neighbors stitching his battered body back together.  As this goes on, Spacker Dave (Ben Foster) notices John and Quentin and a few other henchmen arrive.  Joan hides a still insensate Frank, while Dave resists torture to protect Frank’s location.  After they leave, and seeing to the bloodied Dave, Frank decides to make his final move on Saint and his cronies.  If you have ever driven on N. Ashely Dr. in downtown Tampa, then you have the setting for this final showdown.  Job done, Frank goes back to his abode intending to commit suicide.  Before he can pull the trigger, though, he has a vision of Maria and decides to live.  We close with a great shot (though annoying for locals) of Frank on the Sunshine Skyway Bridge declaring that Frank Castle is dead, and that there is only The Punisher.

One thing that I did not mention in my synopsis is a discussion of The Punisher’s iconic white skull emblem.  He wears it often as a talisman given by his late son that can supposedly ward off evil spirits.  Talking about that and the line at the end about how it can sometimes be inadequate would seem to be the easy stuff to discuss.  Indeed, he uses something called “natural justice” for what a character like him brings to the execution of the law.  Instead, I would like to say something Catholic about a line that Maria says to Frank early on, and of which we are reminded at the end.  Frank has just completed his career, and he says that he and his family are lucky.  She comes back with saying they are not lucky but blessed.  Put differently, there is no chance or randomness with God.  Sometimes it is hard to see this, and it is a lesson that Frank never seems to learn.  I guess a revenge story does not need a character arc, but I find that film works best that way.  The missing part in my view, though the movie does do it justice, is that we are blessed in bad and good times.  A Biblical example of this is Job.  I can think of few better comparisons than Job to Frank than the man from Scripture who literally lost as much as Frank did.  This was the result of the devil deciding to test Job’s faith by taking every material thing from Job, including his family, to see if he would scorn God.  Job comes close, but in the end, comes away with a deeper understanding of the Lord.  Ultimately, that should be the goal for all of us no matter what happens, good or bad.  Frank does not choose this path, and unfortunately blasphemes, so God is going to sit out his plans of revenge as he claims?  That is impossible.

What is also impossible in The Punisher, as in unbelievable that they did not get this right, is when Will misidentifies a horseshoe crab as a sting ray.  It is small moments like this, and the huge amount of violence, that leads to me not recommending it.  Still, I have seen worse non-MCU Marvel films, but I have also seen better.