We start with a strong premise, and the initial twenty minutes are particularly promising. A good chunk of the emotional foundation is established after that point. From here, the story primarily deals with the troubled lead character and his actions once fate brings before his high school bully as an adult. What I enjoyed most about this film how human Joon Seok was; he was no mastermind or powerfully connected avenging knight. His pain was real and easy to connect with. There are also real instances of suspense, though mostly near the end; most of the intensity comes from the disturbing nature of the content.
Unfortunately, the middle sections of The Punisher are somewhat meandering and reliant on coincidence; certain events rely on the character knowing just how an event will play out. All but the lead actors play bare shadows. Several actors and actresses come and go in the narrative, serving more expositional purpose than anything else. As such, it’s hard to get a real feel for their talents, or even the real importance of their characters.
Joo Sang Wook often portrays dapper authoritarians, a fact he has frequently lamented in the media. Perhaps some of that irritation will now subside, because his Joon Seok is a wholly different animal. Of hollow eye and haunted expression, this character has barely held it together since his hellish teenage years. He is anything but suave here, barely recognizable; of particular note must be the scene in which Joon Seok first sees his tormentor again as an adult. The pure fear and honest trauma is just flooring. Our other lead, Yang Dong Geun, portrays the utterly despicable Chang Sik. Unfortunately, The Punisher marks the first time I've seen this actor; the frightening portrayal will not be soon forgotten.
A quick honorable mention to Kim Kwon as the young Joon Seok: he single-handedly set the atmosphere for the entire film with a nervous laugh. His is a career to watch.
While watching the music is noticeable, in a good way. Heart-thumping tracks, others which will keep the viewer on the edge of their seats, tragic and wordless vocals. My favorite is the ballad covering the credits; after the effects of the film, the results were chilling. Otherwise, nothing to add to the old MP3 player.
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Yang Dong Geun as Chang Sik was superb, as usual. Joo Sang Wook as the tortured and never to have recovered Joon Seok was utterly amazing! The story is SUPER raw and an emotional roller coaster. Not too often you can watch a movie and say "Kill them ALL".
So can I say this movie was good? Not good, AMAZINGLY GOOD. Can I recommend? Unless you have the stomach to watch severe levels of abuse, rape, beatings, and few other things, you might want to skip this; however, if you can handle those subject matters, this is an well-acted and amazing story whereby the ending is exactly as you expected.
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In the first 20-30 minutes you are going to be upset. Seriously I've never felt so angry, so it is amazing that they could pull out such an emotion out of me trough a movie!! The [young] actors did an amazing and excellent acting job! I was so involved and could feel the raw emotions!!
I wish they held longer to this type of filming but they didn't. I wish the 'future' concept would be more different. I thought the movie would have been a masterpiece if the present in the present story that they could focus more on the effects than the plain 'revenge' mode. I wish more emotions would have been involved in this and maybe terrorize the 'bully' on a other way that would be more realistic than this.
But if I leave that note out I still thing this movie was very good and it didn't feel like a waste of time. I liked the actors, the music fitted every scene and I would rewatch this movie.
Watch this if you like revenge movies with a heavy load of emotional luggage.
Skip this if you like light hearted movie with an easy too follow story.
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