Salutations, traveler of The Internets! Welcome to William's Bloody Hell, so named after our founder, Sir Bloody William.
He is seen in the likeness above in a rare, 19th century woodcut. This
image was rumoured to have been
commissioned after a bout of unpleasantness
in the White Chapel district of London. Do enjoy your stay and peruse our many, varied offerings, much of which cannot be found elsewhere!
:: The Punisher ::
by Forrest Grump
I am a fan, have been since I was 12.
That being said, I, now many years later went to see the Punisher movie, made
with a budget, with real actors, and
gleefully rated R.
If your unfamiliar with the story, an angry man with a twisted sense of right
and wrong sets out to avenge the deaths of his family by the bad guy society. He
does so not so much with super powers, but with military training, and lots of
guns.
To make a two hour movie out of 30 years of continuity, the filmmakers had to
goof with the story. In many ways, to someone that has never been a fan, these
changes work. IE: The loss of all the family, the origin of the skull, etc. To
me, I view them the same way Spider Man fans view the organic web
shooters chosen over the mechanical ones... Necessary changes made to the story
for the purposes of new viewers.
In many ways this is not a good movie. Frank Castle (The Punisher) does not say
much, and spends most of the movie brooding and in a bad mood. I don't really
see this acting shortcoming of Thomas Jane as a bad thing. They kept the
character stoic. This spoke volumes of the quality of the script. Thomas Jane
was Frank Castle, and put honestly, many things about Frank Castle's character
do not translate well to a movie.
The bad guys as well are clawing their way through the script, displaying
emotions that don't set with previously stated feelings and ideas, but in many
ways, they too translate well from the books.
Where this movie really shines is the black as hell humor and script. It borrows
heavily from "Welcome Back Frank." This book, itself received mixed reviews from
fans and non fans, so there is no real way to tell if you will like it or not.
I will say this. The director, Jonathan Hasleigh, really did his research.
Certain techniques and story points from some more of Castle's well known
psychotic episodes appear (Popsicles).
Things I liked: The Russian is here, and he kicks ass. Harry Heck could have
been written by Ennis, the extended family of Joan, Dave and Bumpo really shine
here.
Things I didn't like: It takes too long for Castle to really become the
Punisher, it is only really in the last 20 minutes that he becomes the
unrepentant machine we know and love. When he does, though it more than makes up
for the previous slow paced story.
John Travolta and Will Patton do very well as fodder for pissed off man, their
characters behave the way baddies do in Punisher books.
And the killins here are top notch. I wont ruin any for you, but the creative
techniques and over the top violence from Ennis' writing really shine in this
movie.
Much like Spiderman, X-men and Daredevil, this movie is
more of a setup of the characters for their real chance to shine. It worked for
the X-men sequel, from the looks of things it is working for the
Spiderman sequel. I'm hoping the sequel to this movie follows suit.
I have waited for a Punisher movie (a REAL one) for my entire adult life. It
pulled no punches, got the R rating and killed many in creatively goofy ways.
It gets a B+ for those reasons.
