The Punisher (2004 Film)

***The Punisher*** is a 2004 American comic book vigilante action film based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name, starring Thomas Jane as the antihero Frank Castle / The Punisher and John Travolta as the villainHoward Saint, a money launderer who orders the death of Castle's entire family.

The story and plot were mainly based on two Punisher comic book stories;*The Punisher: Year One* and *Welcome Back, Frank* along with scenes from other Punisher stories such as *Marvel Preview Presents: The Punisher #2*,*Marvel Super Action Featuring: The Punisher #1*, *The Punisher War Zone*, and *The Punisher War Journal*.

*The Punisher* was shot on location in Tampa, Florida, and surrounding environs in mid- to late 2003. It was distributed by Lions Gate Entertainmentin North America, although Artisan Entertainment, which produced a 1989 film adaptation of *The Punisher*, financed and co-distributed the film with eventual Artisan owner Lionsgate, while Columbia Pictures distributed the film in non-North American countries. Screenwriter Jonathan Hensleighagreed to helm the film during its development stage despite a dispute withMarvel Studios, marking his directorial debut.

The film was released on April 16, 2004, by Lions Gate Entertainment, grossing $13,834,527 in the United States over its opening weekend. Marvel Comics and Lionsgate began development on a sequel, *The Punisher 2*, which instead became the reboot *Punisher: War Zone* after Jane and Hensleigh left the project due to creative differences. This was the last film produced by Artisan Entertainment.

## Plot

When Bobby Saint (James Carpinello) and Mickey Duka (Eddie Jemison) meet with European arms dealer Otto Krieg at the Tampa, Florida seaport, the FBI intervenes and Saint is killed while Duka is jailed. "Krieg", supposedly killed in the shootout, is actually undercover FBI agent and former U.S. Army Delta Force operator Frank Castle (Thomas Jane). Shortly thereafter, he retires from the FBI and attends a family reunion at his father's (Roy Scheider) oceanside home in Aguadilla Bay, Puerto Rico. Tampa crime boss Howard Saint (John Travolta) is enraged by the death of his son, and with right-hand man Quentin Glass (Will Patton) bribes the FBI for confidential information about "Krieg". Saint orders Castle murdered, and Saint's wife, Livia (Laura Harring), demands Castle's entire family be killed as well to "settle the score."

At the reunion, gunmen including Glass and John Saint (Carpinello), Bobby's identical twin, kill most of the extended family. Castle and his father kill several of the attackers before Castle's father is killed. Castle's wife and son try to escape, but John Saint runs over them with a truck, killing them. Castle, shot in the chest and blown off a pier in an explosion set by Glass, survives and is nursed back to health by a local fisherman, Candelaria (Veryl Jones). Once recovered, Castle goes to Tampa and takes refuge in an old tenement where three young outcasts — Dave (Ben Foster), Bumpo (John Pinette), and Joan (Rebecca Romijn) — live. Castle abducts Duka, who fearfully gives up information about the Saints — whom he, too, hates, and so willingly becomes Castle's mole. Castle starts exacting revenge on the police and FBI agents who have been bribed to close the investigation of his family's murder. In the process, he sabotages Saint's money-laundering business and severs Saint's partnership with Cuban mobsters the Toro Brothers, and starts tailing Livia and Glass, learning in the process that Glass is a closeted homosexual.

Saint, realizing Castle is alive, sends two assassins to kill him. Castle kills the first, guitar player Harry Heck (Mark Collie), by shooting a ballistic knife into Heck's throat. The second is "the Russian" (Kevin Nash), a behemoth who beats Castle in a brutal fight but is defeated when Castle throws boiling oil in his face, blinding him long enough for Castle to throw him down a staircase, breaking his neck. Moments later, Saint's men arrive, led by Glass and John Saint. Dave, Joan and Bumpo hide Frank and refuse to tell Glass where he is, despite Glass sadistically pulling out Dave's multiple facial piercings with a pair of pliers. They leave a man behind to kill Castle upon his return, but Castle kills him once Glass and the others are gone. With assistance from Mickey, Castle manipulates Howard Saint into believing Glass and Livia are having an affair. Saint, unaware Glass is gay, and believing Livia to be capable of cheating on him, kills them both personally, neither of them knowing why.

Castle attacks Saint's headquarters, the downtown Tampa nightclub Saints and Sinners, killing many of Saint's henchmen. He kills John Saint by having the crime boss' son hold an eight-pound, trip-wire activated grenade until his arm wearies and the grenade explodes. Castle wounds Howard Saint with a pistol when Saint attempts to shoot him in the parking lot of the nightclub. Castle then ties Saint to a slow-moving car, but not before revealing that Glass and Livia were not having an affair. As the car drags Saint through the lot, Castle sets off several hidden bombs; the resulting destruction and wreckage kills Saint and culminate in the shape of the Punisher's iconic skull. Later that night, Castle returns to his apartment and prepares to commit suicide, but after a brief vision of his wife, decides to continue his vigilante mission against others who in his mind deserve punishment. Before departing on his next mission, he leaves most of Saint's money for Bumpo, Joan and Dave. On the Sunshine Skyway Bridge, he vows, "Those who do evil to others — the killers, the rapists, psychos,sadists — will come to know me well. Frank Castle is dead. Call me the Punisher."

## Cast

* Thomas Jane as Frank Castle / The Punisher
* John Travolta as Howard Saint
* Will Patton as Quentin Glass
* Roy Scheider as Frank Castle, Sr.
* Laura Harring as Livia Saint
* Ben Foster as Spacker Dave
* Rebecca Romijn as Joan
* John Pinette as Bumpo
* Samantha Mathis as Maria Elizabeth Castle
* Marcus Johns as Will Castle
* Russell Andrews as Agent James "Jimmy" Weeks
* James Carpinello as Robert "Bobby" Saint / John Saint
* Eddie Jemison as Mickey Duka
* Eduardo Yáñez as Mike Toro
* Omar Avila as Joe Toro
* Kevin Nash as The Russian
* Mark Collie as Harry Heck
* Veryl Jones as Candelaria
* Tom Nowicki as Lincoln
* Hank Stone as Cutter

Hensleigh and Arad said in many interviews that Jane was the first and only actor to be asked to play the title role.[3] Arad had previously pursued Jane for other roles in Marvel Studios films.[4] He turned down The Punisher twice, as he did not see himself as a superhero actor.[3] Jane said, when asked the second time to play the Punisher, that he became interested when Arad sent Tim Bradstreet's artwork of the character. After learning more about the Punisher, he accepted. Jane went on to read as many *Punisher* comics he could find to understand the character, and became a fan of the Punisher in the process. Jane trained for six to seven months with the United States Navy SEALs and gained more than twenty pounds of muscle for the part.[5]