Never read a single Punisher comic

so I can't tell you which Punisher movie is the most faithful to the comics. Nor do I care. If I had to go by what the comic fans are saying, then this movie is the closest to the marvel Universe out of all the movies on the subject, and therefore the most faithful adaptation.

What I CAN say though, is that taken just as a movie,......the 2004 Punisher is far superior and a better action movie overall. Not great by any means, just better. Sure it had moments of sheer cheese that irritated me ( did not like the three neighbors at all, and the Russian mute creature was like an old Bond villain from the Roger Moore films ), it however had better narrative, acting, grounded execution, and more realistic action violence. I guess that part in particular is why I prefer the 2004 version the most; More realistic action violence ( and characters ). Whereas the 2004 Punisher felt way more grounded in reality with a somewhat plausible set of scenarios for this type of movie, the 2008 Punisher just felt like a near cartoon. Extremely ott villains that acted ( and looked ) like Dick Track gangster caricatures, hokey dialogue, very bad acting, and loads of fake looking CGI action and gore. Just too cartoonish for my taste.

If the 2004 movie had done away with some of the ridiculous characters and the bad acting that came with them ( specifically his three corny neighbors in the apartment ), and had a slightly lengthier and little more violent finale, I think it would have been totally awesome. Even though it didn't follow the Punisher origins which seems to be the main thing that pissed off its fan base.

Plus I like revenge story lines, and having your whole family slaughtered right before you is a pretty good motivation for a revenge movie.


SPIRAL OUT!........KEEP GOING!