Punisher 2004

Known primarily as a film screenwriter, first time director Jonathan Hensleigh, takes the reigns to re-introduce the movie going audience to The Punisher. The success and the lessons learned is what has propelled Marvel and the people who work at Marvel to move forward with better a understanding after evaluating of how to improve the process.

When word got out that Marvel was interested in making a second attempt to the big screen, based on the popular Garth Ennis book series.  Director Jonathan Hensleigh pitched his idea for Punisher, heavily influenced by Sergio Leone's Man with No Name trilogy and Charles Bronson's Death Wish series,  Producers Avi Arad, Kevin Feige, and Gale Anne Hurd, liked Hensleigh's spin on the character.  Mentioned on the director's commentary, the director went in asking for a modest projected budget of 64 Million for the film.  He was given only 33 Million to shoot the movie; on a 62 - 65 day film schedule. Once you remove the actor's expected pay, approximately 15.9 million went into the actual production and post production of the film.  

Success of the film was to have a clear vision and the communication of that vision; using a simple medium of storyboarding and holding weekly meetings with all the department heads including stunt coordinators in a board meeting setting throughout pre-production,  Jonathan Hensleigh knew what would be required  to ensure every minute of every scene had its mise en place from beginning to the end of each shoot day.  

Whatever failures this movie encountered they were lessons learned from Kevin Feige to paved the way for making Marvel adapted movies a financial success. However, in 2003 and 2004 Producer Avi Arad and Marvel films' executive producers green lit both Ben Affleck's Daredevil and Elektra movies with the same restraint as Punisher 2004.  A lower budget, that included a tighter production schedule to compete with a summer or spring tentpole action films.

To look at successful formulation we can look at a film like the original Deadpool which had 4 major set pieces re-visited over the guise of retelling a story through flashbacks and current events.  With a more robust budget to allow for some creative chances. Another example of working with intended vision and formulating a working budget is Blumhouse productions. Who is notorious for controlled budgets, but they have the understanding of essential elements for staging, locations, and equipment to incorporated into a manageable way to not hinder the creative process of its director. 

Welcome Back Frank the graphic novel in which the movie is based has a sardonic, black comedy narrative tone. Its was released in a post 9/11 era, well aware of people who fall in the collateral damage of violence, and respects that.  The 2004 movie for tax purposes and ease of accessibility was shot in Tampa Florida and did not disguise that fact. Working in opposition of the character's origin of NYC and propping up the fictional underworld of Tampa's criminal organization. We watch the mob boss' wife give the order of extinguishing every generation of  Frank Castle and his wife's families. A touch of over kill, but a subjective point. Frank believes in the law as he confronts the FBI Agent and the DA at the footsteps of a courthouse; that he waited 5 months and not a single arrest or action taken in response to his family's massacre.  Castle did not secretly kill Mob Boss Howard Saint on the Thursday when Saint plays golf, but deliberately waited to scope out his target and charge a form of suitable punishment.

With the inclusion of Jonathan's Hensleigh's neighbor Roy Scheider making a surprising cameo appearance, The film underwhelmed at the box office, opening in the expected second spot under Kill Bill vol. 2 which released the same day, the film got lost in the herd as it was released 2 weeks after Guillermo Del Toro's  original Hellboy movie. Punisher made its money back in its DVD sales, but it did not however garner an audience over time, and also in retrospect did not hold up contemporarily.  Its a fun piece of movie going nostalgia; light on violence, with only one blatant nude scene, and two f-bombs spoken to give it a R-rating, the movie itself is very tame by today's standards especially when compared side by side to the Netflix streaming version of The Punisher.