The avenging angel of Marvel Comics fame comes brilliantly to life in this searing action-adventure thriller! Dolph Lundgren stars as Frank Castle, a veteran cop who loses his entire family to a mafia car bomb. Only his ex-partner believes Castle survived the blast to become THE PUNISHER ... a shadowy, invincible fighter against evil who lives for total revenge on his mob enemies.
The real problem is that it just isn't very exciting.
LYTRules.com
June 24, 2004
Often underrated comic-book adaptation that lacks the trademark skull logo but delivers the superhero presence that the Thomas Jane remake sadly lacks.
The only positive spin I can put on this movie is that if bad comic adaptations like it hadn't been done in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Marvel never would have needed to have its current, high-quality big-screen resurgence.
Montreal Film Journal
July 31, 2005
Much better than the 2004 version. A surprisingly potent blast of '80s action moviemaking.
Filmcritic.com
April 18, 2004
Marred by cheeseball sets and special effects, lame fight sequences, and some of the worst acting ever to disgrace the screen.
TV Guide
April 24, 2009
Carefully tended facial stubble trimmed to give him a skull-like appearance, Lundgren is truly impressive as a character defined by emotional emptiness.
A terrible one-man-army action flick. The 2004 version is far more effective.
Cinema em Cena
May 01, 2004
É difícil escolher o que é pior: os diálogos risíveis, a direção amadora, as lutas nada convincentes, a péssima atuação (oh!) de Lundgren ou sua "maquiagem de deprimido".
Variety
March 26, 2009
With origins in a Marvel Comics character, The Punisher is, as might be expected, two-dimensional.