Jonathan Hensleigh
The Punisher

From comic to cinema, from the web to reality...

This The Punisher (2004) by director Jonathan Hensleigh, is a film once again inspired by a Marvel comic, a film that obviously, for as long as it lasted, should not have been interpreted for the reality of its author but for the exaggeration of the character as it was a parodic character.

And this, it must be said, FEW understood. How many coming out of the cinema would have ever said: Hey, but that Thomas Jane (the actor) shoots everyone... he needs to be arrested!!
No one, right? But on the internet things, apparently, work differently... But let's not digress... a fairly classic action film full of clichés, that spouted nonsense, exaggerated repeatedly, and that quite frequently broke the balls (I challenge anyone to say otherwise!).

A film often full of arrogance, bastard, hypocritical, egocentric, deceitful, exaggerated, misogynistic, dishonest and often ambiguous, but what very few understood was the fact that it was still the incarnation of a comic book character and that, scratching the mask/armor, had “a great underlying humanity.”
Oh well, by wearing his shoes over and over again, the same actor (Peter/Thomas Jane) had almost identified with his creature, so much so that for some time he was showing signs of punisherism also this side of the internet world where the character lived. Increasingly often now Peter (actor and author at the same time) would come out with acidic, vulgar and violent phrases even with his family members or closest office colleagues, with the risk of major misunderstandings and carrying a visceral hatred even in real life.

A film, in the end, that could certainly have been managed better by its creator and that, while safeguarding the idea, should have been closed before becoming a sad and now tired commentator, a caricature of what it was (I call it the Bagaglino Effect).
But also a film that, for those who knew how to read between the lines, gave moments of amusing comedy with touches of lucid madness, offering here and there sympathy and affection to that small group of spectators/users now attached to those excessive and coarse jokes scattered among the various reviews, sparking real verbal disputes on the most diverse topics.

A film that would perhaps be interesting to analyze from the psychological aspect of its creator/interpreter but I fear we would venture into really unadvisable depths and not exactly analyzable with the few tools of “rationality” and “common sense” normally applicable to other Human Cases. A film that, beyond the demerits, embodied the “worst part” of all of us, going from maximum jerkiness to the most abject deceit, even betraying the friendship of some who somehow and over time had supported it. I would dare to define it: a catalyst for the basest instincts contained within each of us. A pole with an exorcising functional characteristic that most did not understand, simply stopping at the superficial first reading that emerged.
An exaggerated and deliberately irritating film (the film is action-packed but here instead only chatter and often gratuitous offenses seemed to fly) and inconsistent like few others, which moreover continues to survive, despite the numerous controversies, thanks to the blog dedicated to it.

The screenplay, often hilarious and crazy, the presence of John Travolta, or the experience of the Marvel character rendered more effectively on paper than on film, were of little use.
In short... a film that could have been a bomb and instead has been reduced to little more than a B-series action movie: neither fish nor fowl.

Not recommended for overly sensitive souls, for those seeking comfort, approval, and praise, and for those who react impulsively to provocations. :-)))