In college, a major history paper asked me to defend an opinion on a subject that I had no opinions about whatsoever. I couldn’t disguise that fact so I tried to compensate by making it the most extensively researched and footnoted paper in the history of history. My professor gave me a middling grade and simply wrote “workmanlike.” Fair.
The performances and production of The Punisher are mostly workmanlike. Not inspired, but mostly unobjectionable once you get past the torpid opening. I found the two most memorable and outstanding choices are the ones that other folks on here seem to loathe:
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I have no idea why they set this story in Tampa, but what an interesting choice. While the Punisher will always feel to me like the personification of the “tough on crime” era of New York, it was so refreshing to see an action movie set in an unexpected locale.
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You know whose work wasn’t boring and workmanlike? JOHN TRAVOLTA. I think I would have loved a version of the movie from his perspective, a frightened and bizarre crime weirdo being stalked on the periphery by a vengeful force of nature.
It’s an interesting artifact from a time that’s hard to imagine now. We didn’t know what to do with Marvel heroes and weren’t sure what a blockbuster action movie was supposed to be.
