| Author |
 Topic  |
|
|
Enda80
Preeminent Apostolic Prelate of the Discipleship of Jabootu
108 Posts |
 Posted - 05/09/2009 : 10:07:27 AM
|
http://Jabootu.net/?p=687
In some ways, the Lundgren film had a more sensible screenplay than the Thomas Jane version.
"In a truly bizarre turn of events, Castle blows his element of surprise by informing Saint (although, admittedly, in a nifty fashion) that he’s still alive. Then he reveals this to the world by appearing at a public press conference being held by, what are the odds?, both his one-time Partner and former Boss. (This is when those two appear again, and then afterward disappear for good.) Our Hero attacks them for not finding the killers of his family, and I have to say, you’d think the massacre of thirty frickin’ family members of an FBI agent, including perhaps a dozen children, would have spurred a lot more action on their part."
"Cut immediately to Castle committing a commando mission to destroy another shipment of Toro Brother money. This sets up the gangland war between…oh, wait. No it doesn’t. Instead, the Toro Brothers threaten Saint, Saint threatens them back, and…they just go away forever. (Were they saving the Toros for a possible sequel? That’s the only even somewhat sensible explanation for why they are here but don’t do anything.)"
In the Lundgren film, as stated in dialogue several times, Castle had apparently died in the car explosion that slew his family five years previous to the main events of the film; this explosion, the viewer sees in flashback several times in the actual film, and sees more of in the workprint. (The recursive comic book adaptation notes that Castle disappeared from the hospital later.) In the main action of the film, people still think of Castle as dead, with only his former partner thinking of him as the true identity of the Punisher. |
|
|
Enda80
Preeminent Apostolic Prelate of the Discipleship of Jabootu
108 Posts |
Posted - 05/09/2009 : 10:12:34 AM
|
Also, the Lundgren film does not have any dangling plotlines.
(Incidentally, the idea of having the main character thought of as dead in his true identity as in the Lundgren film goes back to Kent Allard and the Shadow. The problem with the Lundgren film's use of this trope; when we see the Punisher in action before the police officially identify him as the hitherto though dead Castle, he does not seem to have made any effort to disguise himself. No security cameras managed to get a recording of him? Before anyone says "Maybe he looked different before the explosion, maybe he had plastic surgery", sorry, when we see him in flashback, he looks the same". Of course, the behind the camera reason for this: anyone seeking to emerge as the next high profile adventure film star wants his face all over the place, while producers who pay a lot of money to get a star want that person's face constantly visible, even to constant close-ups of the man's face. The 1994 film of the Shadow had, to many people, too many scenes of him as Lamont Cranston and not enough geared up as the Shadow.) |
Edited by - Enda80 on 05/09/2009 10:27:18 AM |
 |
|
|
Enda80
Preeminent Apostolic Prelate of the Discipleship of Jabootu
108 Posts |
Posted - 05/09/2009 : 10:19:40 AM
|
I think someone may have pointed out this problem before on the Chuck Dixon board, but it bears repeating:
http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2008/12/13/bloody-saturday/
"No matter how badly or well-done a Punisher movie might be, at the end of the day it’s still just going to be another action piece about an angry tough guy taking on the mob.
Did it do the comic justice? I guess maybe. But so what? Still just another action movie.
I rather liked the Thomas Jane effort a couple of years ago, but it suffered from essentially the same problem. On film, there’s nothing unique about Frank Castle. He’s a couple of decades too late. Today we have Dirty Harry and Death Wish and Die Hard and a zillion others. No matter how good a Punisher movie might be, it’s still going to look like it was ripped off from a bunch of other movies. No way are you going to get the same power of a movie like, say, Iron Man, where audiences were getting their first taste of something unique to Marvel Comics."
Not mention that, as I have noted, to some degree, R-rated adventure films have less luster than they did before about 1995. The chances of a high profile Mack Bolan film seem film. Farmhouse Films of Roslindale has announced a Penetrator film (another series published by Pinnacle-many audiobooks available) but do not expect an unironic version.
One other note about the Lundgren version:
Although Shake (a former actor who had played Hamlet, hence Shake for "Shakespeare"), the informant who aids Castle in this film, was not a character from the published series, there was a similar, earlier character in the Moon Knight series called Bertrand Crawley who resembled him. Like Shake, Crawley was a transient who nevertheless spoke in a very cultured and articulate manner (e.g. "Could it be this unveiling forebodes the return of the Lunar Legionnaire?"). http://en.marveldatabase.com/Moon_Knight_Vol_3_2 |
Edited by - Enda80 on 05/09/2009 10:31:43 AM |
|
|
|
Greenhornet
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
1791 Posts |
Posted - 05/10/2009 : 06:48:33 AM
|
Off-Topic, but please check your set-up. "He’s" is anoying as hell!
"The Queen is testing poisons." CLEOPATRA, 1935 |
|
|
|
Flangepart
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
2329 Posts |
Posted - 05/11/2009 : 4:33:15 PM
|
I read the Mack Bolan books up to #16, I think. Well done, for the most part. Punisher is based on Bolan. In fact, Bolan's creator Don Pendelton was interviewed in a B&W collection of the Punishers comic storys.
"Vulcans : The designated drivers of the universe."
"Hoody Hoo, i waste 'em with my cross bow!" Bob Herzog- KODT
|
|
|
| |
Topic |
|
|
|
Forum Locked
Topic Locked