TheRetroCritic

Back in 2004, Marvel were busy making comic-book movies left and right, releasing about two to three superhero films a year on average. Along with Spider-Man 2 and Blade: Trinity , the same year we also got the reboot of The Punisher starring Thomas Jane as anti-hero Frank Castle. A complete departure from the late 80's Dolph Lundgren Punisher movie, this was meant to bring the character to a wider audience telling his origin story and showing his arc from war hero to revenge-thirsty vigilante. With John Travolta cast as the villain Howard Saint, the mob boss who orders the death of Castle's entire family following an undercover job leading to Saint's son's death. With everyone he cared about gone and himself left for dead, Frank Castle regroups in an out-of-the-way tenement and starts to shoot his way through Saint's men before accepting his new life as The Punisher. This all sounds potentially exciting and packed full of good old-fashioned violence and yet

There's a fine line between over-the-top and just plain preposterous. Back in the late 90's, a bunch of people actually thought that having Nicolas Cage and John Travolta literally switch faces in a big-budget action thriller was a good idea and thus, Face/Off was made. To be fair, that does sound like the best thing ever. And, in a way, it kind of is. I mean, don't get me wrong, this is one really dumb flick but in terms of sheer ridiculous fun, it works brilliantly. Not only do you have John Travolta overacting his face off but you've got The Cage himself overacting his face off, both actors somehow trying to outdo themselves throughout in the let's-be-cartoon-characters department. It certainly helps that directing the film is the king of clichéd OTT cop thrillers, John " Mission: Impossible 2 " Woo, a man for whom doves and Mexican stand-offs are not only worth having in every movie but are a must. The plot is utter goofball nonsense from t