The Punisher (2004)

## More Information

***The Punisher*** is a 2004 superhero film, based on the Marvel Comics antihero of the same name. It is the second film based on the character after the 1989 film The Punisher.

## Synopsis

An undercover FBI agent becomes a vigilante and sets out to unleash his wrath upon the corrupt businessman who slaughtered his entire family at a reunion.

## Plot

One night in Tampa, Florida, Micky Duka leads the young Bobby Saint to an arms deal. The deal is brokered by a man named Otto Krieg. The exchange goes sideways when FBI suddenly burst into the scene, Otto pulls out a gun. The police fire back, killing everyone except Mickey, who is terrified when he sees Bobby's body.

The bodies are taken away, but Otto Krieg stands up unharmed, he turns out to be Frank Castle, a FBI agent who is just retiring. When the news reach the Saint family, they orders Micky to be bailed out. Micky is taken by the Saints to a club and beaten. Howard is still unsatisfied, and kills another man who was supposed to be responsible for his son in front of Micky. Meanwhile Frank returns to his family, he says they will go to a family reunion before moving to London.

Howard Saint goes to confirm his son's body, he orders his own men to find out everything about Arnold Creed. At the funeral of his son, Quentin informs Howard that Krieg was a fake, that his real name is Frank Castle. Howard orders him killed, but his wife Livia adds that the whole family must also die. Howard agrees, while Johnny decides to go to Puerto Rico with the other assassins.

The assassins arrive just in time for another family outdoor beach party. Frank has gone inside with his father to look at some modified guns, they hear the gunshots. Though they fire back, they are unable to rescue anyone. The assassins completely slaughter the family, and although Maria and her son manage to escape in an SUV and drive away, the assassins eventually catch up and run them over on a pier. Frank, distracted by a knife fight with one of the goons, arrives too late. The assassins return, and Johnny beats and shoots Frank himself. Quentin then torches the place, and they leave Frank for dead, not knowing that the explosion actually blasted Frank into the water. They return to the Saints & Sinners club, where they toast to "a score settled".

Candelaria, one of the Castle family's friends, rescues Frank. After Frank recovers Candelaria takes him back to the Castle house. Frank picks up the guns his father had been showing him, as well as a T-shirt with a skull logo that his son had given him. Filled with anger, he is determined to have revenge and returns to America. He returns to Tampa and move into a poor run down apartment building, where he starts modifying guns, the apartment he lives in, and his car. Frank's actions catch the interest of his friends, the opera- and food-loving fat Bumpo, the piercing-covered skinny video gamer Spacker Dave, and the lovely Joan, who works as a waitress and is friends with Bumpo and Dave.

One evening, Frank drives off in his car. He kidnaps Mickey and forces him into revealing all he knows about the Saints. Frank releases Mickey, and he freely talks about the Saints - whom he claims he hates; Mickey has been forced into their servitude. With the information about the family's schedule and their closest friend Quentin Glass, Frank starts following them and taking photos.

Frank confronts his former police colleagues, asking why nobody was arrested for his family's death after five months. Learning that the police were too afraid of taking the Saints head-on, Frank takes matters into his own hands. He sneaks into the Saints' bank building. He hits one man unconscious and orders two others counting cash to fill up a suitcase with money. The rest of it he throws out the window, which draws in a noisy crowd trying to catch the money. Frank, dressed in a long black coat and the skull t-shirt, confronts two of Saint's armed guards and kills them, he escapes easily into the crowd. The Tampa TV news reports the bank incident and identifies Frank. Back in Frank's apartment, an angry former boyfriend bangs on Joan's door demanding to be let in. Bumpo and Spacker are scared, but Frank easily disarms the man and sends him away, Joan thanks him and says they are sorry for what happened to his family.

Setting his vengeance in motion, Frank breaks into Livia's car and calls Quentin on her phone with a device to disguise his voice. He blackmails Quentin Glass for $5000 and telling Glass to come to a hotel. Frank parks Livia's car illegally near the same hotel, and gets a ticket. Howard, looking for Quentin and failing, is told by Micky that the man was at the Winston hotel. He later spots Livia and Quentin talking and laughing together and becomes more suspicious.

The next day, as Frank eats at the diner Joan works at, a man comes in with a guitar case. They eye each other suspiciously, then the newcomer, Harry Heck, starts singing a Johnny Cash-type ballad. Frank leaves the cafe and is chased by Heck. Frank is saved by special steel panels he's installed in his old car, but still crashes. After a brief standoff, he kills Heck.

Johnny finds a Claymore bomb in a boat. Johnny jumps off the boat just in time as it explodes, Frank is standing on an overlooking hill. Howard is agitated enough to start throwing things around, and the Cubans march into his office. The two sides argue, before the brothers leave he warns the them that if they don't like it he has more guns than they do. Howard tells Quentin to call The Russian

Dave tricks Frank into lunch and after they eat, Joan goes to help make the "Iced Florentine" dessert and dances to opera music. Frank is alone in his apt when suddenly the Russian appears. The fight eventually leads into the others' apartment, terrifying Joan and the others due to them not hearing the fight due to the music. Frank manages to throw boiling water in the Russian's face and while stunned, Frank pushes himself and the man downstairs. Frank is able to move but the Russian lies still, his neck broken. Frank passes out due to his injuries. The three neigbours try to help him.

Howard's hitmen discover the body of "the Russian" and head upstairs. Joan and Frank hide in a secret room under the floor, while Dave and Bumpo remain to deal with the men. Quentin questions the two and tortures Dave, cruelly yanking out all his piercings with pliers. Dave refuses until they finally believe him and leave. When Frank recovers he kills the guard with a paper cutter blade. Bumpo takes Dave to the hospital, while Frank prepares his weapons, much to Joan's dismay. Frank also writes a "declaration of intent" where he states that the justice he's pursuing is not criminal, but punishment. Joan realizes part of Frank's idea was to be killed in battle.

Frank breaks into Livia's car again and takes her diamond earrings from her handbag. He sets up another blackmail meet with Quentin. Mickey, under Frank's orders, shows Howard the ticket on Livia's car at the Winston hotel. Howard remembers that Quentin was also there at the time, and suspicious, heads to Quentin's home. Meanwhile, as Quentin leaves his mansion, Frank breaks in. Howard goes in later and discovers Livia's earring in Quentin's bed. When Quentin returns, Howard greets him at the stairs, startling the man. Howard tells him a story of how Jim Bowie of Alamo fame accused another of cheating by breaking into their home, moving their furniture, and throwing a knife in the middle between the people involved. As he talks he moves Quentin's furniture and throws a knife on the coffee table. Quentin claims rightly that he never took a cent from Howard. When Quentin refuses to pick up the knife, Howard swipes him with it. Snapping about how Quentin thought him an idiot because Howard treated him like his brother, Howard stabs Quentin to death. Frank drives off.

When Livia returns home, she sees Howard throwing her things on the floor. He tells her he knows about "her and Quentin", that she was with his best friend. Upon seeing Quentin's body by the doorway, and when shown the parking ticket by the Winston Hotel, she tells him that Quentin was gay. Howard doesn't believe her, only slapping her and dragging her out to the car. He reminisces about their history and her former prostitute status before they arrive at bridge overpass. He throws her over the side, where she is quickly run over by a train.

Howard goes to his club, where he offers his men a reward for the one who kills Frank. In a forest, Frank prepares himself for battle. He kills Howard's guards, then sets bombs to several cars and sneaks into the club. Frank sets a bomb in a bucket, when the bomb goes off, Frank rushes in, shooting anyone still left alive. He finds Johnny trapped and injured, and forces him to hold onto a mine with a deadman switch. Then he goes out and finds Howard, telling him he killed both his sons as from behind in the building, Johnny screams as the bomb goes off.

The two men standoff, Frank wounds Howard and shows him the photos of Quentin's affair as well as Livia's earring. Frank ties him by the feet to the back of a car and sets the car in motion through the parking lot, setting off the bombs he planted earlier. From the sky the fires form a shape of a skull as Howard slowly burns to death.

Back at home, Frank is about to commit suicide and shoot himself when a memory of Marie stops him. He decides to set himself a new path and leave. Meeting up with Joan, he tells her that she is right and tells her he has a gift for all three of them. When Dave is released from the hospital, they find wads of cash left for them. High on a bridge Frank claims that Frank Castle is dead, he is now the "Punisher."

## Cast

* Tom Jane as Frank Castle/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
* Samantha Mathis as Maria Castle
* James Carpinello as Bobby Saint/John Saint
* Russell Andrews as Jimmy Weeks
* Eddie Jemison as Micky Duka
* John Pinette as Bumpo
* Rebecca Romijn-Stamos as Joan

## Appearances

### Locations

* United States of America
* Florida
* Tampa
* Puerto Rico

## References

The The Punisher Movies Wiki has a collection of images and media related to **The Punisher (2004)**.

## External Links

* The Punisher (2004 film) on Wikipedia
* The Punisher (2004) on IMDb