The Punisher

Plot

When Frank Castle's family is murdered by criminals, he wages war on crime as a vigilante assassin known only as the Punisher.

Release Year: 1989

Rating: 5.3/10 (8,445 voted)

Director:
Mark Goldblatt

Stars: Dolph Lundgren, Louis Gossett Jr., Jeroen Krabbé

Storyline
Based on the Marvel Comic, Dolph Lundgren is Frank Castle an ex-cop who lives in the sewers and acts as judge, jury, and executioner to the city's criminals in retaliation for the unpunished murders of his wife and kids. Frank's ex-partner Jake (Louis Gossett Jr.) finally catches up with the vigilante as he tries to stop the Japanese mob, which is trying to take over the city's mafia operation.

Cast:

Dolph Lundgren
–

Frank Castle

Louis Gossett Jr.
–

Jake Berkowitz

Jeroen Krabbé
–

Gianni Franco

(as Jeroen Krabbe)

Kim Miyori
–

Lady Tanaka

Bryan Marshall
–

Dino Moretti

Nancy Everhard
–

Sam Leary

Barry Otto
–

Shake

Brian Rooney
–

Tommy Franco

Zoshka Mizak
–

Tanaka's Daughter

Kenji Yamaki
–

Sato

Hirofumi Kanayama
–

Tomio

Larry McCormick
–

TV Newsreader

Todd Boyce
–

Terrone

Lani John Tupu
–

Laccone

(as Larney Tupu)

John Negroponte
–

Musso

Taglines:
Judge. Jury. Executioner. All in a day's work.

Release Date: 5 October 1989

Filming Locations: Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Box Office Details

Budget: $9,000,000

(estimated)

Gross: $287,434
(UK)
(30 June 1990)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

89 min
 |
Finland: 76 min
(heavily cut) (1990) (1995)

Did You Know?

Trivia:

91 people are killed individually on screen in this movie, not including those who die en masse in explosions, etc.

Goofs:

Continuity:
After the lights go off, some goons shoot at where two characters are standing, only to find them gone when the emergency lights come on. Not a single bullet hole is visible in the Japanese paper screen they were standing before, however.

Quotes:

Gianni Franco:
How bad is it?

Terrone:
How bad is it? If you hadn't come back, I'd be head of the family.

User Review

GREAT FILM THANKS TO THE ACTORS CHOSEN

Rating:

The Punisher was one of the better Marvel films adapted from a comic-thanks
mainly to the casting.

Dolph Lungdren was an excellent choice as The Punisher and I cannot imagine
anyone else being able to play it as well as he did. His facial expressions
were so convincing throughout the movie;you really could believe that he was
Frank Castle, a man whose family had been butchered.
It was probably one of Dolph's best roles since playing He-Man in Masters of
the Universe. The Punisher is a dangerous and pessimistic character and
Dolph played it great.

Louis Gossett Jr. played Jake Berkowitz who had been chasing The Punisher
for years and the lovely Nancy Everhard played his sidekick.

Jeroen Krabbe played crime boss Gianni Franco and he too did a brilliant
job. He wasn't the stereotypical gangster. He made Gianni Franco into an
intriguing character.

The casting for this film was brilliant so all that was needed after that
was lots of action. And lots of action is exactly what we got. It was very
vicious at times and I found myself flinching at times but it was great
action.

I do wish there had been a sequel to this film.