TheRetroCritic

Talking about Season 2 of Netflix's The Punisher .

I talk about Season 1 of Netflix's The Punisher .

After a sequel to The Punisher  could not get off the ground, studios finally decided to reboot the Marvel franchise with Punisher: War Zone . Ray Stevenson would replace Thomas Jane as the iconic anti-hero. While the 2004 film was a mild success at the box-office, it wasn't exactly the definitive Punisher movie as it lacked a certain edge and emphasis on action, something War Zone willingly delivers. Pushing the violence and gore up to 11, this reboot really tried to outclass both prior movies in terms of sheer brutality and, indeed, that mission was quickly accomplished. This Punisher is not for the faint of heart and critics back in 2008 were probably not expecting such a big difference in tone although anyone who knows the character and the comics knows he usually reduces bad guys to mush. The film sees Frank Castle lose a friend during a shoot-out with mobsters. He then takes out the leader by crushing him in a spinning pile of glass bottles but he somehow survives and pl

Released in 2014, Avengers Confidential: Black Widow & Punisher was an anime-style animated feature produced in Japan taking The Punisher and throwing him in an Avengers storyline led by Black Widow, of all people. How does that work? As it turns out, surprisingly well. Taking a page out of DC's book, Marvel lends its characters to a group of competent animators who, much like most of the Batman animated features, not only deliver a visually appealing film but respect the source material. The film doesn't take the easy route either: it would have been a breeze to just make an Avengers movie like the poster suggests, packed with familiar characters throughout, but the fact that this focuses on The Punisher and his unlikely collaboration with Black Widow is refreshingly daring and original. The plot sees S.H.I.E.L.D. clash with The Punisher (voiced by Brian Bloom) over a specific case which Nick Fury explains goes deeper than Frank Castle knows. The latter therefore

Modern Marvel movies have gotten a lot of things right over the years including telling more out-there superhero stories in an approachable way, pulling off the craziest crossovers and bringing to the screen some iconic characters in style, heroes and villains alike. But there were also missteps and we also got some less-than-stellar efforts with less-than-stellar villains facing some of our favourite heroes. So, before I list my favourites, here are 10 of my worst modern (post 2000) Marvel movie villains: 10 THE LIZARD The Amazing Spider-Man The Andrew Garfield-starring Spider-Man reboot may not have been the most original piece of storytelling out there, once again laying out the whole Spidey origin story so soon after Sam Raimi's trilogy. Having said that, it had its moments. One of the most disappointing things about it, however, was The Lizard. Not only did the filmmakers seemingly go out of their way to make the character look nothing like he does in the comics

I count down 20 of the best kills from the 1989 film The Punisher starring Dolph Lundgren. Enjoy!

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

The first attempt to bring Marvel's The Punisher to the screen was this 1989 film starring Dolph Lundgren in the title role. It was received about as well as every Punisher movie has to this day in that critics and audiences universally ignored or dismissed it. This Punisher is still seen as a failure by most and it is often criticised for the acting and the changes made to the character's story. The fact that he never even wears his trademark skull T-shirt at any point in the film, I'll admit, was a stupid omission and it doesn't exactly help sell the iconic look he's known for. Dolph Lundgren, however, was a decent casting choice, his monosyllabic tones adding to the cold, bitter aspect of the character and his towering frame definitely makes him a believable threat. There's also something to be said about seeing the Punisher just shoot big guns in rooms full of bad guys. It's brainless but it works and it is instantly satisfying: this movie does tha