PUNISHER: WAR ZONE Post Release - Page 12

That was my original post back in February and ever since then I've been suspiciously watching the post count rise in my subscribed threads section.

Some directors use CGI Gore as a way to heighten and comicify violent scenes. I know that Takeshi Kitano used CGI blood in Zatoichi to try and undermine the seriousness of his fight scenes.

True and I suspect that practical effects might have seemed, to "real."* Plus, let's be honest, when you're watching Punisher, don't you want to see heads totally explode and the like?

*especially for the MPAA

Spike Marshall, I saw Beat Takeshi's ( Beat is apparantly his director name, to seperate him from his actual name Takeshi Kitano) Zatoichi and I loved the film and the CGI Gore as well. Kitano failed if he wanted to undermine the seriousness of his fight scenes though, as the fights were seriously Dyn-o-Mite!

Whilst the fights in Zatoichi are impressive there's certainly an undercurrent of parody in what Kitano is doing.

Spike Marshall, I didn't pick up the parody in Starship Troopers either, as I was in complete enthralled of the brashness of director's Paul Verhoven and Beat Takeshi to make the action so dynamic and ultraviolent to seemingly create a new category, R + (not intended for people with a weakened constitution).

I do, ha! When Frank eradicates Pittsy's face, it was a shock to the system. Hell, Budiansky justifies his existence in the flick with his reaction. A great audience surrogate moment right there.

I'll definitely accept those explanations for CGI gore, even though I'll forever think that practical make-up is the best way to go for the sake of being visceral. But I think that's for another thread.

What I can appreciate about P:WZ is that the action was clear cut and isn't beholden to the shaky cam(which I think can be effective at times) trend that can be prevelent in today's action films.

I don't think they use CGI gore to lessen the impact of the violence. I think it's just a special effects technique that they find easier than practical effects. Now that it can be done, they don't have to use squibs. Maybe it saves in the wardrobe budget (squibs means that for repeated takes you need fresh clothes for the bullet wounds and so on). Or maybe they just find it easier to deal with that kind of stuff in post. Other times, there are squibs without blood packets and CGI gore gives it a specific look that the filmmaker is going for. In any case, I don't think it lessens the impact of the violence at all. Rambo had CGI gore too, but it was pretty brutal and I don't think Stallone was going for something comedic. The tone of Punisher: War Zone is comedic and that would be the case even without the CGI gore.

I prefer practical effects myself, but in some cases CGI gore works well.

The aforementioned death of Pittsy is probably my favorite moment in the entire film. I laughed so hard and for so long that my stomach hurt.

I was sold on most-to-all the cgi blood in Zodiac, which was apparently crucial in allowing Fincher to shoot a zillion takes.

I'm not so nuts about CGI blood and gore. But PWZ's budget was something like $25 mil, right? Did they ever have a choice?

My personal preferred method these days is composited practical gore. Like what they did for Hot Fuzz. Spurt practical fake blood and gore out of a little cannon in front of a green screen and composite it in later.

The CG blood on the young couple at the beginning of Zodiac was great. I didn't even realize that wasn't practical. But the death of the cab driver came across much more stylized. I figured that one was CG, but I assumed the stylization was the point.

I don't think so. I didn't mind the cg blood. Sometimes the blood looked like cg and sometimes it looked like real goop (ex: mannequin head that punisher caves in).

Really the biggest issue I have with CG gore effects is the way Fox in particular uses them after making crappy PG-13 versions and to then sell a DVD as 'unrated'.

I tend to agree with that, though I still don't find that movie crappy.

But in something like WAR ZONE it doesn't bug me much. Fits in with the cartoonish tone of the film.

Just saw this, and I haven't laughed this heartily in a long, long time. Hutchinson was a welcome surprise as LBJ, but I really wanted William Smith to be the Russian Mafia dad character.

I want sequels. I want FRANK CASTLE vs. THE WORLD CRIME LEAGUE, FRANK vs. ALIENS, FRANK vs. GODZILLA.

Joel Page, My favorite Punisher team up was PUNISHER and BATMAN. Even Batman wanted to bring Frank Castle to justice for being a killer. Batman also teamed up with Judge Dredd as well.

I love gory, ultraviolent crap - and I walked out of this movie. It reminded me of Batman & Robin more than anything else.

Yeah, because Batman and Robin had full frontal de-skullification of bad guys.

The greatest thing about the parkour death scene was the manic, high-frenzied adrenaline music that was playing in the background up until the rocket minces the jumper up with the music cutting out. If only they used the classic 'comedic record scratch' sound effect instead.

Wolverine should be assigned to give this movie on-call blowjob service 24/7.

Imagine if Wolverine was approached with the mentality that made this movie. That would have been entertaining.

Picked up on Bluray this weekend. Haven't had a chance to watch it for the 4th time, but it's on my radar...

This Movie gets better with repeat viewings. I still don't like how they waste time on Frank moping after killing an undercover fbi agent, but the side characters have grown on me. Especially LATIN KING with an ese accent he heard on tv.

He's a mean motherfuckerrrrrrrrrrrrr.
He's on a constant METH HIGHHHHHHHHHHH.
Yu coming our noooooooooooooot??

Colin Salmon also grows on you every time he gets beat up and humiliated by the Punisher. And I like how it seems like he's never cursed before. A shame that this put up such embarrassing numbers! I don't think it did that well on dvd/bluray either.

And look at what the bad box office did to lexi alexander!
http://www.lexialexander.com/LiftedTrailer.html

I don't understand, there's a soldier and he's about to go back to a war, but then it keeps on a kid that has a haircut from the '80s. How is this a Lexi Alexander movie?

Ruben Studdard and Trace Adkins? Oh Lexi.

Oh, no!

This seems like a joke. But in my heart, I know God isn't that funny.

Underrated PUNISHER WAR ZONE moments:

-Urban freeflow gang member MCGINTY calling Julie Benz a "wee bitch".
-The sound Jigsaw makes when he stabs that guy in the throat with a champagne glass

I'm watching this ma'fucka again. Thinking about it: The turtleneck makes sense.

MISTAHR PUNISHAR... SER!

I love when Jigsaw calls a ten year old girl jailbait, and when he calls God "an imaginary friend". Furthermore, he equates the noble Russian language with vampirism! Truly, there are no sacred cows for this man!

Probably the most underrated character is the old mobster guy who Frank decapitates. I wish he would have gotten more screen time.

biologeecal packige??
I FUCKIN KNEW EET!!!!!!!!
Probably goin up to de ragheadz in queens!

Uncuw G!

STUPIDO! SHUDDA HAVE-AH YOO LOCKED UP LIKE YOO SHEETHOUSE BROTHEREH AH-LOONEEH BEEN-UH JEEM-UH!

The Russoti brothers also cut the sweetest deal in movie history! In exchange for "duh raghedz in Queens", the feds not only acquit Jigsaw and Jim from all their crimes, they also give him an innocent person's whereabouts!

What a teddy bear! He's pretty forgiving for a ruthless mobster. After BILLY THE BEAUT threatens him, he's like

eyyyyyyyyyyyyyy I put out a beeg spread-a out here-a!
EAT UP!

Not a big fan of this movie anymore. While the violence is over-the-top fun, repeat viewings have been less kind to the film. I think the moments with sappy Grace and Ray Stevenson taking themselves too seriously really ruin the self-aware tone of the film which Dominic West helps create with his character. Dash Mihok is also really grating as the comedy relief, and Julie Benz has less to do than in Rambo!

I don't think I want the Punisher of this film to be self-aware. I don't want him making snappy quips. I just want him royally pissed off and decimating baddies.

This film has reaffirmed my faith in humanity. Lexi Alexander might just be the perfect woman.

Like the Crank movies, War Zone was a movie I had a BLAST watching with friends in a barely attended movie theater. But also like the Crank movies, I have no intention of watching it again precisely because I imagine it'll never be anywhere close to as fun the first time was.

I came in here to say the exact same thing. This is a one and done.

It's unfortunate, because Ray Stevenson deserves a larger audience. He is one of the most taleneted, good looking badasses to ever grace the silver screen. I keep hoping the BOOK OF ELI will give him a chance to shine

He's in Thor too. shrug. we'll see. Loved him in Rome, and he made a good Frank Castle.

I've showed this movie to several new people, and had a blast each time. I must have seen it four-five times, I think. The movie is still fun of course, but people's reactions are the cherry on top.

This movie as AWFUL.

Boring, poorly constructed, lacking in any sense of excitement, character, tension, creativity, or acting quality. Note how nearly every shot is awkwardly composed. Note the generic knock off Batman score. Note the garish Schumacher color scheme mixing with the super serious take on the Punisher character. Note the fact that 20 minutes of this fucking movie takes place in A LIVING ROOM. Note how Microchip has 3 giant cabinets of assault rifles, machine guns, all sorts of insane tools, and gives the Punisher two pistols.

Whoever plays Looney Bin Jim gives one of the worst performances I've seen in a major picture, ahead of Julie Benz.

It almost felt like the filmmakers knew they had a complete piece of shit so they through in some neat gore effects and kills but they had no weight.

Also: Why is Punisher a supporting character in his own film. He didn't even say anything for the first 25 minutes.

Ray Stevenson could have been a great Punisher and did okay with what he was given but this would have been near the top of my worst of 2008 list had I seen it that year.

BOOOOOOO!

They finally reviewed this film on How did this get made podcast. The awesome part was that they had Patton Oswalt and the director in when they did it. She talks about the film and all the choices she made. Love or hate the film it's worth a listen. Direct MP3 link to the podcast below.

 

http://traffic.libsyn.com/howdidthisgetmade/HDTGM_20_MAIN_EDIT.mp3

Lexi Alexander has a great anecdote about having Freddie Prinze Jr. an amazing audition for Jigsaw.  The hell!?

 

Yeah I would kill to see that audition tape.

That blew my mind as well, disappointing that they were essentially humoring him. Also thought it was interesting how candid Lexi was about the movie's marketing. The cynic in me questions potential revisionist history, but she makes a great point that making this movie out to be anything like the Dark Knight did it a huge disservice. I'm not saying selling it like Crank would have meant huge boxoffice, but it certainly couldn't have hurt.

Punisher War Zone, is The most...MARVELous version of Frank Castle to shoot up the silver screen!  Punisher War Zone is one of my...Favorite Superhero Films Ever!  Ray Stevenson IS...Frank Castle.  Not only does The Punisher wear his trademark outfits like they were ripped out of the late 80's comics, but Microchip is his tech weapons guy as well.  It is also one of the most...Ultraviolent Superhero films yet, topping similarly hard edged action classics like...Blade, Blade II, The Punisher featuring Dolph Lundgren and Kick-Ass!

Finally got around to seeing this, and WOW. That was *nuts*. In the best possible way. Laundry list!:

 

-I liked Thomas Jane as Frank Castle/The Punisher. It was a legitimate, sorrow-laden take, showing him growing into the role of the Punisher rather than him just going from 0 to slaughter. I do feel that Ray Stevenson more accurately represents the essence of the comics Punisher, particularly from Garth Ennis' masterful MAX run. He's older, has the slicked-back hair, and his voice is perfect. The tender scenes between him and Grace's daughter are kind of boring, but Stevenson still manages to sell them.

 

-Dominic West's performance is a thing of beauty. Now I get why people were disappointed he had less room to move in John Carter (though I still liked him in that). It's completely over-the-top and awesome, especially once he gets in the Jigsaw makeup. I particularly love his scenes with the always-reliably-creepy Doug Hutchison, and his hilarious "patriotic" recruitment speech. What was up with that strait-jacket combined with a tuxedo thing he was wearing in the last 30 minutes or so?

 

-Oh, poor Colin Salmon and Dash Mihok. You have such thankless roles in this movie, but you fill them admirably anyway. I especially adore that Mihok gets the last line of the film, and it's a complaint about getting brains splattered on him.

 

-I liked the little touches of dark comedy Lexi put in the action scenes: the amazing rocket-launcher-meets-parkour bit, the resigned "Oh, fuck" look the one guy has before the grenade blows up, and Budiansky's "GODDAMN IT FRANK!" after he blows Pittsy's head off come to mind.

 

-The fight between Loony Bin Jim and Frank is definitely the best restroom fight since Casino Royale (itself the best restroom fight since True Lies).

 

Ah, so much bloody fun. Can't wait to have some friends over and pop this in.