The Punisher (1989)

[Silver Nemesis]

I can't remember if we already have a thread for this movie. If we do, I'll merge it with this one.

While browsing YouTube I stumbled across an unrated workprint of the Dolph Lundgren Punisher movie. I watched it last night and it wasn't bad. The temp score incorporates music from First Blood, Aliens and Lethal Weapon, and I think there might be a bit of Christopher Young's Hellraiser score in there too. Click on the link below to watch it on YouTube.

The most obvious difference is that the workprint includes a lengthy prologue in which we see Frank before he became the Punisher. We see him back when he was an ordinary family man, spending time with his wife and kids and working with his partner. Louis Gossett Jr. gets more screen time, which is a plus since he delivers the best performance in the film. We see the events leading up to the murder of Castle's family, then the story leaps forward five years to when the Punisher is already established. It would've been nice to see him transition from ordinary cop to vigilante, like the 2004 film showed us, but instead the 1989 movie abruptly skips over that.

The prologue scenes aren't particularly good, and Frank's wife is underdeveloped as a character so that we don't feel much emotion when she dies, despite the tender scenes between her and her husband. The best thing about the prologue is that it shows us how different Frank was before the loss of his family broke him, and that it establishes the fraternal camaraderie between him and his partner Jake, which has a payoff later in the movie during the scene in the holding cell.

The ending is also different. In the final version of the movie Franco delivers a villainous speech about how his organisation will become the most powerful criminal force in the world, and he gloatingly implies that he's used Frank to eliminate the competition. There then follows a fight scene between him and Frank, ending with Punisher killing him. In the workprint Franco comes across more sympathetically. It's clear that he's genuinely grateful to Castle for saving his son and doesn't want to kill him, but is only doing so because he knows that if he doesn't the Punisher will come after him later. There's no fight scene between them. Castle just kills him, quick and clean.

The bit where Franco's son holds the gun to Frank's head is also more intense. In the workprint it comes across as though Frank wants the boy to kill him. It reminds me of the scene in the Thomas Jane movie where Castle almost kills himself after avenging his family. I prefer the workprint ending to the one in the finished film. Dolph's acting is generally better served by the workprint edit. In the other version his performance comes off as one note, while in the workprint we see more emotion from him, more pain and humanity.

Punisher fans should give it a look.

On the trivia front, Frank's daughters wear Spider-Man pyjamas in one scene, and later in the movie there are two separate references to Batman.

If only Dolph had worn the skull emblem.

At least he finally got to don it during a photo shoot many years later.

[thecolorsblend]

The lack of the skull symbol does damage this movie's cred. I firmly believe that if Lundgren had worn the skull shirt, the movie would be more highly regarded.

As it stands, there aren't very many good reasons for the 2008 Punisher: War Zone film to get more respect than this film.

I'd like to believe that there's an alternate universe out there somewhere in which Lundgren was able to do a sequel to the film and burnish his resume with the fans. He's so similar to the early Eighties comic book Punisher that it's a crying shame that this movie was his only bite at the apple.

[The Joker]

Sounds like I really need to check out the workprint.

Similar to "Captain America 1990", I grew up liking Lundgren's "Punisher" quite a bit. Of course, the most parroted criticism was the lack of a skull shirt, but I still enjoyed the movie for what it was. I particularly think that Louis Gossett Jr. was very good and memorable as Castle's former partner. As was Kim Miyori as Lady Tanaka. To me, the scene where she nearly persuades Franco in committing suicide, along with her sinisterly laughing with glee is very haunting. There's also a number of memorable lines from this movie as well.

"Mr. P .... happy hunting!"

"What the hell do you call 125 murders in five years?" -
"Work in progress."

"If you're guilty, you're dead."

Overall, very entertaining movie, but yeah, I really need to check out that workprint.

[Silver Nemesis]

The lack of the skull symbol does damage this movie's cred. I firmly believe that if Lundgren had worn the skull shirt, the movie would be more highly regarded.

Someone should make a fan edit where they digitally place the skull emblem over his top. With all the tech wizardry we see online these days, I bet someone could do that. They could also pick and mix the best elements from the workprint and finished versions of the film and combine them to make a superior cut.

As it stands, there aren't very many good reasons for the 2008 Punisher: War Zone film to get more respect than this film.

I'd like to believe that there's an alternate universe out there somewhere in which Lundgren was able to do a sequel to the film and burnish his resume with the fans. He's so similar to the early Eighties comic book Punisher that it's a crying shame that this movie was his only bite at the apple.

Of all the actors who've played the Punisher, Dolph was easily the most dangerous in real life. Regarding that entire generation of eighties/nineties action heroes, whenever I've seen people debate which were the toughest Dolph usually finishes near the top of the list.

To start with, he's highly intelligent and well educated. He studied at Washington State University, Stockholm's Royal Institute of Technology, the University of Sydney, and MIT. He has a master's degree in chemical engineering, speaks six different languages and has authored several books and screenplays.

He's a 4th dan black belt in Kyokushin Karate, which I gather is the most dangerous style of Karate and the one best suited to real combat. He's also trained in boxing, Judo and Gōjū-ryū Karate. He became Swedish Kyokushin Champion in 1979 and captained the Swedish team in the 2nd World Open Tournament held in Japan. He then became two-time European Heavyweight Champion at the 1980 and 1981 British Karate Kyokushinkai Opens. His most impressive martial arts accomplishment was when he won the Australian Open Champion at the Australian Kyokushinkai Full-Contact Karate Tournament in 1982.

He performed national service in the Swedish Coastal Artillery, during which time he was assigned to the Kustjägarna amphibious special forces unit. Later he worked as a bouncer and was Team Leader of the 1996 US Olympic pentathlon team. While making Rocky IV, Stallone asked Dolph to hit him for real. Dolph reluctantly complied and Sly spent the next nine days in the ICU.

On top of all that, he had one of the most impressive physiques in Hollywood at a time when big muscles were commonplace. In his prime he was 6'5 and built like... well, like He-Man. The reach advantage his size gave him would've allowed him to knock most men out before they could even get within striking distance.

In universe, Stevenson's Punisher was the strongest. The violence in War Zone is on a par with an Itchy and Scratchy cartoon, with Ray's Frank capable of ridiculous feats like this.

But in real life? Dolph was the most formidable Punisher.

When discussing which Punisher is the best, it comes down to Jane and Bernthal for me. Lately I've been leaning more towards Jane as my personal favourite. But I like Dolph's version too and I think he was underrated in the role. I consider him the Val Kilmer of the Punishers, and the 1989 film in general holds up as an entertaining eighties action flick.

"What the hell do you call 125 murders in five years?" -
"Work in progress."

That might be my favourite line of dialogue in any Marvel movie ever. Dolph's deadpan delivery is perfect.

[Silver Nemesis]

I recently read The Punisher Movie Special by Carl Potts, Brent Anderson and Phil Haxo. It's an adaptation of the 1989 film that was published in June 1990 to coincide with its UK theatrical release.

The characters don't resemble the actors who play them, which indicates the comic was based on the script rather than the finished film. The fact it follows the workprint closer than the theatrical cut is further proof of this. The entire prologue sequence depicting Castle's back story is adapted, and the final confrontation between the Punisher and Franco is based on the workprint version. The dialogue is faithful to the movie, minus the swearing.

One interesting visual difference is that just before the finale Frank sprays the skull emblem onto his top. Until then he dresses like Dolph's version, but throughout the final showdown he more closely resembles the comic book Punisher.

It's a decent adaption that follows the film closely. Casual Punisher enthusiasts might find it redundant, but fans of the 1989 movie will enjoy reading it.

Some interesting trivia I just discovered about the 1989 Punisher is that the producers' first choice to play Frank was Christopher Lambert. I remember back in the 2000s people online would constantly remark on the physical likeness between Thomas Jane and Lambert. Jane doesn't resemble Lambert as much these days, but back when he was younger he could've passed for his clone.

[Kamdan]

Some interesting trivia I just discovered about the 1989 Punisher is that the producers' first choice to play Frank was Christopher Lambert. I remember back in the 2000s people online would constantly remark on the physical likeness between Thomas Jane and Lambert. Jane doesn't resemble Lambert as much these days, but back when he was younger he could've passed for his clone.

I wish they would have cast Ray Wise as Frank Castle.

[Slash Man]

I always thought this was a solid movie. I know it got so-so reviews, but it really deserved better considering it didn't have a [US] theatrical release in the wake of Burton's Batman. Grossing $30 million on a $9 million budget outside of the US is good, but just imagine what that could have been with decent marketing.

It seems like such a no-brainer to bring the Punisher to the big screen: Hollywood was experiencing a golden age of action films in the 80s, and Batmania brought superheroes back to the forefront of cinema. Punisher encompasses both. Appropriately, they hired a seasoned action star in the lead role. You weren't going to get Schwarzenegger or Stallone for an indie flick, but Dolph Lundgren was an inspired choice.

Lundgren's portrayal was intense and tortured. He brought more depth to the character than the comics did at the time. TV Guide had a surprisingly profound observation that it was "genuinely comic book-like, rather than cartoonish" at a time when much of the public opinion was still that the two were synonymous.

Anyways, I want to see a proper Blu-ray/UHD release in the US.

I recently read The Punisher Movie Special by Carl Potts, Brent Anderson and Phil Haxo. It's an adaptation of the 1989 film that was published in June 1990 to coincide with its UK theatrical release.

The comic adaptation is a lost art. You have the same story, but left to the creative interpretation of a new set of artists for a new medium. Oddly enough, I prefer the comic to have differences from the final film to stand on its own and reflect the production process. RoboCop and Star Wars were classics for me.

I remember rumors of a deleted scene persisting for Frank donning his skull emblem for the first time. I think it's safe to say that was never filmed. As-is the film gets a lot of undeserved flack for the lack of comic book accurate costuming when plenty of modern films are looked over with more egregious departures.

[Silver Nemesis]

The comic adaptation is a lost art. You have the same story, but left to the creative interpretation of a new set of artists for a new medium. Oddly enough, I prefer the comic to have differences from the final film to stand on its own and reflect the production process. RoboCop and Star Wars were classics for me.

I miss movie-to-comic adaptations. The Dark Knight was the first WB Batman movie not to have one, but that was back when the studio was trying to distance Batman from his comic book past and pretend the franchise was a realistic crime drama. They could've resumed adapting the movies after the Nolan trilogy ended. I don't know why they didn't.

I also miss videogame adaptations. Up to and including the 2000s, almost every major blockbuster movie would get a videogame tie-in. I know a lot of them were poor quality and rushed to coincide with the theatrical release dates, but some were really good. Imagine a co-op videogame based on The Flash. Everyone would be fighting over who gets to play as Keaton, and no one would want to play as Ezra. But it would be fun playing through the Russian base sequence with Arkham-style gameplay.

The Punisher '89 would've been a prime candidate for a videogame adaptation. I see it as a Contra-style run and gun title with some stealth gameplay mechanics. Apparently there were several Punisher games released in 1990, but I don't think any of them were based on the movie. However the trailer for the NES game does utilise footage from the film.

[Slash Man]

Licensed games in general seem to be a thing of the past. It seemed like the PS2 era was the peak of licensed games, but even that's almost two decades removed now.

I was actually just playing Punisher on NES the other day (I'm eventually trying to collect all the comic book titles for the system). They dig surprisingly deep for the content and didn't just create all new characters (Jigsaw, Hitman, Sijo, and Kingpin). I'm still not very good after the difficulty ramps up after the third stage; not many shooters rely on you dragging a cursor around the screen.