The Punisher
Lions Gate Films | Release Date: April 16, 2004 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
33
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 36 Critic Reviews
Positive:
5
Mixed:
15
Negative:
16
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
Rolling StonePeter Travers
Among the recent spate of comic-book movies, from "Spider-Man" to the "X-Men," The Punisher is unique. Read full review
75
USA TodayMike Clark
Trashy and disturbingly violent yet fairly zippy and amusingly cast. Read full review
70
Washington PostMichael O'Sullivan
Unlike some of its recent ilk – "Spider-Man," for example – The Punisher is, no disrespect, a thoroughly morose and bilious affair. That is precisely what I like best about it. Read full review
63
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
Considering the horrible buzz that had dogged the movie since its trailers first premiered, The Punisher turns out to be a likable underdog. Read full review
63
Baltimore SunChris Kaltenbach
The Punisher punishes. That's what he does, and that's all this movie does. Read full review
60
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
That rare comic book movie that actually feels like a comic book. Which turns out to be mostly, but not entirely, a good thing. Read full review
50
Philadelphia InquirerDavid Hiltbrand
For such a formulaic vigilante film, The Punisher has a far better cast than it deserves. Read full review
50
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
The most entertaining scenes focus on the lovable louts and losers who share the boardinghouse where the protagonist - based on a comic-book character billed as a superhero without superpowers - prepares his grisly exploits. The rest is mayhem. Read full review
50
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
The second attempt to bring a dark corner of the Marvel comic-book universe to the screen, this comic-book-based revenge story is undermined by its inconsistent tone. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
The Punisher is so grim and cheerless, you wonder if even its hero gets any satisfaction from his accomplishments. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleCarla Meyer
It's a prevailing sense of humor that makes this an entertaining, if silly, film adaptation of the Marvel comic. Read full review
50
New York PostJonathan Foreman
Travolta is terrific as a bad guy, making Saint almost sympathetic. His co-stars however, flounder in a sea of bad lines, with poor Romijn-Stamos getting stuck with the worst. Read full review
50
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
There's something to be said for letting a comic book adaptation operate at the level of a comic book--i.e., with cheap laughs and ice-cold sadism. Read full review
42
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam Arnold
It's hard to imagine how anyone could sit through this thing except squirming critics and violence addicts in need of a particularly gruesome fix. Read full review
40
The Hollywood ReporterMichael Rechtshaffen
A tone-deaf muddle that shifts moods more often than its lone wolf vigilante rubs out bad guys, clocking in at a punishingly paced two hours and change. Read full review
40
VarietyJoe Leydon
Fires blanks. Thoroughly routine, pic plays like a paint-by-numbers pilot for bygone basic-cable teleseries. Read full review
40
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
Punishes the audience with a flat starring performance; Mr. Jane finds few sparks of life in a hero who wasn't all that lively to begin with.
40
Film ThreatPete Vonder Haar
The movie lives up to its “R” rating in the final scenes, but it’s too little too late. Read full review
40
Village VoiceBenjamin Strong
With topical revenge fantasies already available (Dogville, the Kill Bills) and with Roy Scheider on hand as a gun-loving paterfamilias, The Punisher mismanages its greatest asset: an unusual embarrassment of camp riches. Read full review
40
EmpireChris Hewitt
A creaky script which avoids tackling the morality of Castle's actions, while Hensleigh doesn't do himself any favours by slowing the film's momentum with leaden editing. Read full review
38
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
The Punisher isn't Frank Castle; it's Jonathan Hensleigh. And the punishee is anyone sitting in the audience. Read full review
38
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Stephen Cole
An overemphatic revenge fantasy devoid of even a trace of excitement or wit. Read full review
38
New York Daily NewsJami Bernard
It features an insane amount of violence and a number of visual references to the comic, but it lacks the original's humor and spirit. Read full review
38
PremiereAaron Hillis
From an audience perspective, the title’s fairly apt as well. Read full review
30
The A.V. ClubKeith Phipps
Sadly, The Punisher is about little more than bullets hitting bone, and how good it might feel to be on the right end of a gun. Read full review
30
The New York TimesDana Stevens
Its lack of subtlety is clearly a point of pride, and Mr. Hensleigh's flat-footed, hard-punching style has a blunt ferocity that makes "Kill Bill" look like "In the Bedroom." Read full review
30
SalonStephanie Zacharek
If you can get past the goofy writing, there's lots of noisy action in The Punisher, but little of it is particularly exhilarating. In fact, it's more of an endurance test. If you can sit through it, you should consider yourself duly punished. Read full review
25
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
The movie is as grim and grave as the comic book. But it lacks atmosphere. It's often illogical and drubs you numb with its single dimension: noisy retribution. Read full review
25
Chicago TribuneRobert K. Elder
In a case study of how to screw up a simple, powerful revenge story, director Jonathan Hensleigh punishes audiences with an unbearably sluggish action movie that requires the word "action" to be placed in quotes. Read full review
20
L.A. WeeklyScott Foundas
As bad as the movie is, when it tries to be funny -- a hired killer who sings to his victims, a fat man named Bumpo, and an interminable fight scene choreographed to “La donna è mobile” -- it somehow manages to get several degrees worse. Read full review
20
Dallas ObserverRobert Wilonsky
The Punisher would be almost offensive were it not so inconsequential. There's just something terribly off-putting about a movie in which every gruesome death is a punch line, where a villain's homosexuality is used to lure him to his death and dozens of innocents are gunned down just to launch a film franchise. Read full review
20
SlateDavid Edelstein
A sickeningly manipulative, by-the-numbers revenge movie. Read full review
16
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
The Punisher is a moronically inept and tedious piece of death-wish trash. Read full review
16
Portland OregonianM. E. Russell
It actually makes the 1989 version (starring Dolph Lundgren) look pretty good by comparison. Oh, yes. It's that ghastly. Read full review
0
Washington PostDesson Thomson
Don't hold your breath waiting for The Punisher to be original, not for one second of its torturous two hours. Read full review
0
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
The Punisher is such a bad film that it becomes inadvertently entertaining; it’s enough to make you pine for the original version of the black-clad Marvel Comics’ badass, played to awful imperfection in 1989 by Dolph Lundgren. Read full review
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