The Punisher 2: War Zone (2008)

Elevator Pitch: Frank Castle, a one man execution squad, continues to ravage the criminal elements of the city, eventually ending up head to head with Billy “The Beaut” Russotti. In the villain’s hideout in a glass recycling plant, Billy get recycled and becomes Jigsaw, his face hideously reconstructed. He frees his brother “Loony Bin Jim” from an asylum. Also at the recycling plant Frank accidently kills an undercover cop and as a result attempts to make reparation, but is rebuffed by the widow. But he makes a connection with the dead man’s young daughter, something which Jigsaw is able to take advantage of, by capturing the child and the mother and demanding Frank’s life in exchange.

Content: There is no sex or nudity, but a large number of scenes of extreme violence with a lot of blood being spilt, and sometimes visible physical damage. Dominic West’s character falls into the glass recycling plant and as a result becomes faceless, but has a new face stitched on. It is grotesque. Loony Bin Jim is frighteningly violent. He is in a constant state of homicidal mania. Most of the scenes take place at night but the colours are bright, making it somehow acceptable.

A View: As you can see from the votes, no-one much liked this. It returned $10 million at the box office. Against a budge of $35 million. It is almost alarmingly Batman like, with Frank the superhero, being supplied weapons of all sorts by Micro, his sidekick (sorry forgot to mention him), up against a grotesque villain. Jigsaw. There is even an unlikely love interest. As for me, I thought it went along pretty well, Loony Bin Jim, being a particularly outstanding character. In my view, if you decide to watch this you know what to expect, and I think it delivers.

Additional Info: Lexi Alexander is a former kick boxing champion and stunt woman of German extraction.