Punisher: War ZoneMovie Reviews

Poster art for "Punisher: War Zone."

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Avg. Critic Score: 30 out of 100 Generally unfavorable reviews Metascore® based on all critic reviews
Information for Parents:
17 not for kids
Read Common Sense Media review

Critic scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.

  • 75
    San Francisco Chronicle | Peter Hartlaub

    Assuming you can appreciate the high level of gore and assorted sadistic weirdness, the action is satisfying. Read full review

  • 58
    Entertainment Weekly |

    Dominic West (The Wire) plays a facially mutilated Mob boss as if he's in a broad SNL sketch. Read full review

  • 50
    Chicago Sun-Times | Roger Ebert

    It looks great, it hurtles through its paces and is well-acted. The soundtrack is like elevator music if the elevator were in a death plunge. The special effects are state of the art. Its only flaw is that it's disgusting. Read full review

  • 50
    Variety |

    Along with torrents of gore, Punisher: War Zone has moments that are deliriously funny, because the violence is so awful and so casual. Read full review

  • 38
    Boston Globe | Ty Burr

    If most December movie releases are epic-length and Oscar-ambitious, then Punisher: War Zone has to be considered Hobbesian counterprogramming: It's nasty, brutish, and short. Read full review

  • 38
    USA Today | Claudia Puig

    The dialogue is beyond clichd, and performances feel cobbled together from other movies. Read full review

  • 38
    Philadelphia Inquirer | David Hiltbrand

    The acting is better than the script deserves and Lexi Alexander's cut-to-the-hearse direction lends the film considerable kick. Read full review

  • 30
    The Hollywood Reporter | Frank Scheck

    So unrelentingly violent that all but teen boys might as well stay home. Read full review

  • 20
    Washington Post | Michael O'Sullivan

    Anyone with a modicum of good sense -- or a weak stomach -- will take it as a warning to stay the heck away from this literally and figuratively deadly "War Zone." Read full review

  • 20
    The New York Times | A.O. Scott

    Does it have to be so witless, so stupid, so openly contemptuous of the very audience it's supposed to be pandering to? Read full review

View more reviews for Punisher: War Zone on Metacritic

Information for Parents
Common Sense Media says not for kids Violent vigilante comic book story is gory, grim stuff.
What Parents Need to Know Parents need to know that this over-the-top action movie is unrepentantly violent, with a body count in the dozens and constant extreme, grisly depictions of hand-to-hand combat, gunshot wounds, explosions, industrial accidents, and much more. The movie's tone is also very moody and bleak -- it may be based on a popular Marvel comic book character, but it's not kids' stuff. It's more akin to the adventures of Dirty Harry than those of Spider-Man. Not only does the film tacitly endorse the vigilante "hero" and his violent methods, but so do law enforcement characters -- who either turn a blind eye to his activities or actively help him. Characters also use extremely strong language, drink, and use drugs (some are shown snorting cocaine).
  • Families can talk about the appeal of extreme violence on screen. What draws viewers to this kind of movie? What are the effects of watching so much grisly violence, even if it's intended to be deliberately over-the-top and cartoonish? Families can also discuss the film's endorsement of "going outside the law" to punish criminals who've evaded the consequences of their actions. Do the ends ever justify the means? What other recourse do people have when the system doesn't work?
The good stuff
  • message true0 Positive messages: The film's "hero" is a vigilante who fights New York's organized crime figures after his family is executed for accidentally witnessing a mob execution. His murderous work is in many ways secretly approved of by legitimate law enforcement personnel. He shoots and kills an undercover FBI agent and is tormented by this. Discussion of terror plots and biological weapons (which are to be sold "to the ragheads in Queens"). Some discussion of God's mercy and forgiveness and plan; the main character rationalizes his work by explaining that "someone has to punish the corrupt." A criminally insane character is referred to as "Looney Bin Jim."
What to watch for
  • violence false5 Violence: The movie's body count is in the dozens, with constant, extreme, and bloody/gory violence -- including shootings, fights, bare-handed neck-breakings, decapitations, several point-blank shotgun blasts (viewers see the victim's face obliterated), stabbings, death by explosion, and more. A man stabs another man through the neck with the stem of a broken wineglass. A man is killed by having a chair leg thrust through his face. A man is seen devouring another man's kidneys after murdering him. A man is hurled into an industrial glass crusher; viewers see his face, stripped bare of skin and pouring blood (later his face is a grotesque patchwork of scars, grafts, and transplants). Several extremely detailed special-effects deaths -- like when the "hero" punches someone so hard that he penetrates their skull. A man is hurled onto the sharp metal posts of a wrought-iron fence.
  • sex false1 Sex: A brief refrence to "screwing hookers."
  • language false5 Language: Constant strong language, including "f--k," "motherf--ker," "s--t," "ass," "a--hole," "crap," "c--ksucker," and more. Some Italian vulgarities.
  • consumerism false2 Consumerism: Some brands -- Range Rover, Krispy Kreme, Beretta -- are mentioned by name.
  • drugsalcoholtobacco false5 Drinking, drugs and smoking: Characters smoke, drink hard liquor, and are seen snorting cocaine. References are made to crystal meth and anti-psychotic drugs.
An independent nonprofit dedicated to providing families the information they need to help kids thrive in a world of media and technology. © Common Sense Media Inc. 2010. All rights reserved.

Looking for more reviews? Movies.com Critics Say:

Dave White

4.5

Dave White Profile See Dave White's Profile

...creatively violent Read full review See Dave White's on MOVIENAME on Movies.com

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Punisher: War Zone Movie Ratings + Reviews

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