The Punisher (1989)

The Punisher (1989)

Directed by: Mark Goldblatt

Starring: Dolph Lundgren, Louis Gossett Jr., Jeroen Krabbé

I’ve never seen this movie before, nor was I even aware that there was an 80’s Punisher movie. And yet, this was the one I liked the most out of all of this movie challenge. Hell, it’s way better than the 2000’s reboot.

Frank Castle is a cop who lost his wife and kids to gang violence, so now he sits around in the sewer and occasionally murders hundreds of gangsters. Thanks to his work, the remaining crime bosses in the area are weakened enough that they’re taken over by the Yakuza, which are actually way worse than just your average family Italian mob. Castle has to team up with his old police chief and the head of the less evil mafia to save all the mobsters’ kidnapped kids and restore peace and moderate violence to the streets.

I actually think this may be Dolph Lundgren’s best role, because he’s really good as the sullen mass-murderer who doesn’t speak much. Amazing as it is, there isn’t a single hammy kill-one-liner in this entire 80’s action movie, and they actually manage to get some character development in on a few characters. It’s pretty abnormal, but not at all unwelcome. It’s still an 80’s action movie, though. There’s only so much you can do there.