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Reviews
The Punisher (2004)
Basic Action Flick
Many speak of The Punisher in the context of it being a comic book adaptation movie. Naturally, this is fair enough. But, to judge The Punisher solely as a movie, regardless of its origins, personally one can't help but feel that here we have a rather basic, plodding action movie, of the sort we might have seen in the 1980s, albeit without the so-called smart one-liners. Removing the movie from the context of it's comic book background, we are presented with a very unadorned and predictable story, with next to nothing in the way of character development. We have no interesting plot twists, no engaging or imaginative ways in which the movie's key themes - revenge and retribution - are sought or confronted, and really very little to sustain us until the movie finally reaches it's (never-in-doubt) conclusion. Jane's performance is solid, but that's the best you can expect him to bring to a character who never verbalizes the anger and bitterness within. Travolta puts in the same performance he always does when playing a villain, right up to the same usual dubious hairline.
The Punisher is one for the fans, and good for them: no-one begrudges them this film. But to an outsider, it comes across as an uninspiring action film noteworthy only for its bleak feel, although at times it feels it is confusing these 'dark' pretensions with shallowness.
The Hawk (1993)
Dull
A tedious thriller which feels a lot longer than its 88 minutes. Mirren's performance as is solid as you'd expect, but that really isn't quite enough and it's hard to see why this was a film as opposed to a one off TV-drama. I suppose there is something to be said for the fact the film really only let's us experience Mirren's character's perspective and the fact that the audience is kept guessing for much of the movie, but really you can't help feel this could have been a lot better. Compare it to an episode of Cracker or Prime Suspect, and it's nowhere near as dark and brooding as it likes to think it is, and nowhere near as dark and brooding as we know British drama can achieve.