NEWS/UPDATES || WHO'S INVOLVED? || WHAT'S AT RISK? || WHAT CAN YOU DO? || GALE ANNE HURD

What's at Risk?

As Punisher fans, we've had our hopes raised and smashed in alternating intervals for far too long. The risks War Zone is taking at the hands of Gale Anne Hurd are as follows:

1. LOSS OF STORY AND CHARACTERIZATION - Remember how weird it was that in 2004's Punisher, Howard Saint magically knew where Frank Castle lived and could send assassins there as he pleased without disruption? Sadly, so do we. Editing movies down from their intended length simply to "speed up" a film has disasterous consequences, and we'd like to avoid that.

This wouldn't be the first time Hurd has cut out scenes that could fascinate viewers with a character. It was well known that Edward Norton tried to add a little extra to Hulk with scenes that demonstrate more about Bruce Banner, but all of the extra footage (which was filmed) was removed by Hurd. She felt those scenes "put on the brakes," which really meant that she thinks movie audiences are too stupid to care about anything but a thrill ride.

It is ESPECIALLY critical that this not happen to War Zone, as it is a new attempt at the character and not a sequel to any previous Punisher film. All indications are that Castle's got the proper origin this time... a wife, a son, and a daughter all lost in an execution in Central Park... what happens if Castle's origin "puts the brakes" on the roller coaster Hurd wants to design for us idiots? Then we're stuck with a character who has no motivation and no sympathy from the audience... might make it a little tougher to enjoy the violent Frank Castle. The movie needs to remain intact, above all else.

2. REMOVAL OF COMPOSER CHRISTOPHER FRANKE - Franke was Director Lexi Alexander's choice to compose a score for War Zone. However, one of Gale Anne Hurd's first moves was to give him the axe... apparently in favor of Michael Wandmacher. Yes, the man whose music began appearing in films 36 years ago as part of "Tangerine Dream" was removed for the guy who did the "Never Back Down" and "Madagascar 2" soundtracks. Just try finding some of Wandmacher's music on the web, we dare you!

3. MOVIE LENGTH - We've heard rumors that the film originally stands at about 102 minutes, and that Hurd is going to chop it down by about 20 minutes... if taken as written, that's an 82 minute movie. That would make it exactly 1 minute longer than Disney's "Pocahantas," and actually 4 minutes SHORTER than Don Bluth's "Thumbelina."

We want just as much movie as can be expected from any film made for an adult audience, as the Punisher shouldn't be intended for children who have very short attention spans. Even uncompressed, it still wouldn't be as long as 2004's Punisher film, which clocked in at 2 hours and 4 minutes in its theatrical release (but again, that was the little man's movie, right Gale?)

Steve Gainer recently stated that the cut he had just viewed was 91 minutes, which we see as somewhat more positive than 82 minutes. Still, this doesn't change that the 2004 film was a 120+ minute feature.

4. THE FUTURE OF THE ENTIRE PUNISHER FILM FRANCHISE - We'll never lose our love for Punisher comics, as long as Marvel keeps making reasonably good decisions for the character. Movie audiences won't be nearly that forgiving however... how many times can production drama ruin a perfectly good character? Sadly, we were almost at the finish line of this movie being good before Hurd put up the barriers to stop everything. Why is LGF going to let her do it again? Hurd already gave us a sad, mis-shapen product once, and now she's being let right back at it. That doesn't make any sense. Roger Ebert said in his review of the 2004 Punisher film, it didn't "...know what level of credibility it [existed] on." We know what level of credibility Hurd exists on... it's whatever level her current husband exists on, and at this point, we're not sure if Jonathan Hensleigh is even alive anymore. Continue Reading the Truth