This revenge thriller, based on the long-running Marvel Comics series, is a bleak, brutal and oppressive tale of a former F.B.I agent (Thomas Jane), who loses his entire family and is left-for-dead by a ruthless money-launderer (John Travolta). The film takes awhile to get going, but once it does, it is a non-stop cavalcade of angry violence, very much keeping in tone with the spirit of the original comic book. Many critics unfairly bashed this one upon release, condemning the film as overly sadistic, which may or may not be true. I don't know what they were expecting, but I found it refreshing that a comic book hero's only real "superpower" is his single-minded need for revenge. The film does a good job setting up the scenario, so we can completely empathize with The Punisher's motives, and Jane's performance as the title character is suitably brooding. Travolta does what he can with a somewhat underwritten role - he's only onscreen when we're to be reminded what a brutal bastard he is - and there are some secondary characters, like Jane's geeky neighbors, who serve no real purpose (the film could be a half-hour shorter without them and still be just as effective). The action scenes are indeed violent (and occasionally over-the-top), but stop just short of being gratuitous. A small winner that deserves a second look on DVD. From Lions Gate.