The Punished

The Punished_360P

Rene Perez...ouch. He does this thing where--in his more entertaining movies--when someone gets shot there's an enormous blast of watery blood that you would expect to find in a video game. This one does that. So from the get-go it's off to a good start. It's a Rene Perez trope. People don't bleed in his movies, they explode blood-water. Unfortunately what is also a trope is that no one seems to know how to handle a gun, so how they hit anything is beyond on. My fiance and her friends had the unfortunate curse of growing up in the suburbs near Chicago, and even on video games that use toy guns, they can't seem to hit anything. The people in Perez movies handle firearms the same way... like people that have never handled a firearm before. That is an unfortunate fact given that this is a film that was intended to me a Marvel's Punisher knock-off. But a knock-off with little action, a horrible script that is delivered atrociously, with a cardboard cast. It's painful. In other words, it really, REALLY stinks. Most of the time when movies like this know they are bad they up the gore, up the comedy, up the nudity, do something, anything to make the film watchable... but not Perez, he'll make a bad movie and not try to salvage it in any way.

Take a look at that title and you may think, "Well, if Marvel isn't going to make a Punisher theatrical movie, someone should." Oh man, you're the audience for this movie. Wolfgang (Robert Amstler, doing an Arnold impression or it's maybe just because he's from Austria and was in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines) is an international mercenary called to Redding, CA where a wealthy woman to get revenge. While there, he meets an orphan who could die at any moment from an undisclosed chronic disease. He decides to be her father figure - he still has not had enough of fighting crime - and hires Lisa (Nicole Stark) to be their tour guide. This movie is astounding because it promises that's going to be a Frank Castle movie, then makes you think it's going to be a direct-to-streaming Leon the Professional and then becomes a travel infomercial for Redding with a scene where Lisa fires off all the things to do in town, like Turtle Bay Exploration Park, Shasta State Historic Park and WaterWorks Park. I'm shocked she didn't tell them about the steaks at Jack's Bar and Grill, the Huli Meatball Pizza at C. R. Gibbs American Grille or the Organic Chicken Jerusalem at Moonstone Bistro. Then, we follow the characters to these places in-between Wolfgang shooting people, sometimes in first-person action. It's incredible because you really have no idea what kind of movie this is. Good work, tourism PR team of Redding! You did it! This was directed by Rene Perez, who keeps winning my cheap movie heart by making movies like a Death Wish movie so complete - Death Kiss - that he found a Bronson clone named Robert Bronzi in Eastern Europe. This also ends - spoiler warning - with the bad guy getting BBQ sauce - did it come from Niu Hawaiian, Arnold's or Fat Daddy's? - poured all over himself and left to be dinner for a bear. Astounding.

Rene Perez...ouch. He does this thing where--in his more entertaining movies--when someone gets shot there's an enormous blast of watery blood that you would expect to find in a video game. This one does that. So from the get-go it's off to a good start. It's a Rene Perez trope. People don't bleed in his movies, they explode blood-water. Unfortunately what is also a trope is that no one seems to know how to handle a gun, so how they hit anything is beyond on. My fiance and her friends had the unfortunate curse of growing up in the suburbs near Chicago, and even on video games that use toy guns, they can't seem to hit anything. The people in Perez movies handle firearms the same way... like people that have never handled a firearm before. That is an unfortunate fact given that this is a film that was intended to me a Marvel's Punisher knock-off. But a knock-off with little action, a horrible script that is delivered atrociously, with a cardboard cast. It's painful. In other words, it really, REALLY stinks. Most of the time when movies like this know they are bad they up the gore, up the comedy, up the nudity, do something, anything to make the film watchable... but not Perez, he'll make a bad movie and not try to salvage it in any way.

I really enjoyed the story, and the acting was passable , but fit the story. If you can set aside your selfish need for stelar acting in every movie, you can sit back and enjoy a great story that is memorable and touching The values presented were also in keeping with the highest traditions of American values, except maybe the revenge. Music was marginal.

An "Arnold" sounding special ops/hitman (Robert Amstler) takes a little girl to the park. Oh yea, he finds a lost necklace...PLOT SPOILER!. This is another horribly written and choreographed Rene Perez film. Amstler has played in some other Perez films, and in a limited talking role. Also like Perez films, Leia Perez is in the film. Nicole Stark has graduated to a speaking role where she keeps her top on. In fact, there is no swearing that I recall, no nudity, and no one who looks like Charles Bronson. That is atypical Perez. In spite of all these differences, the film was still a joke. Poor attempt at feel-good random acts of kindness film.

The Punished