Tom Jane is intense but his first starring vehicle is punishing

Friday, April 16, 2004

By WILLIAM ARNOLD
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER MOVIE CRITIC

Hollywood's latest superhero movie, an adaptation of Marvel Comics' "The Punisher," is something slightly different in the genre. It's low-budget, its visual effects are not digital and its aptly named super-hero (Tom Jane) has no superpowers.

MOVIE REVIEW

THE PUNISHER

DIRECTOR: Jonathan Hensleigh

CAST: Tom Jane, John Travolta, Will Patton

RUNNING TIME: 124 minutes

RATING: R for pervasive brutal violence, language and brief nudity

WHERE: Bella Bottega 11, Cinema 17, Crossroads 8, East Valley 13, Everett 9, Factoria, Gateway 8, Grand Cinemas, Issaquah 9, Kirkland Parkplace, Longston Place 14, Marysville Cinema 14, Meridian 16, Monroe 12, Varsity, Woodinville 12

GRADE: C-

He's an undercover cop who accidentally killed the beloved son of a Tampa drug lord (John Travolta) in a sting. As payback, the gangster massacres the guy's whole family: son, wife, father, mother, uncles, aunts, cousins, nieces, nephews, grandparents, dogs and cats.

Somehow, the wounded hero escapes this family reunion turned slaughterhouse, recovers his health, moves into a rundown section of Tampa and starts a "Rambo"-like operation to destroy the baddie's crime empire and one-by-one take out all his associates and family members.

The bright spot in this suped-up version of the old Charles Bronson "Death Wish" movies is star Jane, an intense actor who is perhaps best known for playing Mickey Mantle in Billy Crystal's hit cable-TV movie, "61*," and who holds the screen nicely in his first headlining role.

Another plus is a series of exhilarating, realistic chase sequences done mostly the old-fashioned way, with real stuntmen in real cars. (At a paltry $30 million budget, most of which went to Travolta's salary, the movie couldn't afford a lot of fancy, phony digital effects.)

But first-time director Jonathan Hensleigh (the writer of Jerry Bruckheimer's "Armageddon" and "The Rock") neither makes anything original, interesting or profound out of the vigilante premise and no prevents the slumming Travolta from outrageously hamming up his every scene.

And, though it may be true to its comic source, the film really pushes the envelope with its torture and sadism. Indeed, it's hard to imagine how anyone could sit through this thing except squirming critics and violence addicts in need of a particularly gruesome fix.

P-I movie critic William Arnold can be reached at 206-448-8185 or williamarnold@seattlepi.com.