When is a franchise not a franchise? When there have been multiple attempts to create one, all of which have bombed in their own unique way. Such is the case with the Marvel Comics vigilante Frank Castle, better known as the Punisher.

The character first appeared in a 1974 issue of The Amazing Spider-Man (a new character debuting by way of a guest shot in Spider-Man? I’m shocked!), and later gained a cult following as the ultimate comic book anti-hero.

There have been a few titles featuring the character, with the one thing they have in common besides the title character is a gradually increasing sense of desolation and brutal violence.

The character was unique (for the comics at least) at the time of his creation, and the modest following he had has inspired three attempts at making a good movie about him. All three have varied in their faithfulness to the source material, all three have tried to kick-start a big money-making franchise, and all three have failed miserably.

The Punisher (1989) : Starring Dolph Lundgren, Louis Gossett Jr. and Jeroen Krabbe

I’ve already covered this movie on my blog, but for the sake of completeness, here we go.

Dolph Lundgren is the title character, and apart from the name, the backstory, and the impressive body count he racks up, he’s generally considered to be a poor man’s version of the character. Apart from the fact that he’s being played by Dolph Lundgren (which is weird, because in terms of personality, he’s dead solid perfect), the main beef seems to be the absence of the iconic skull t-shirt.

Folks, if you’ve seen this movie, you know that a costume alteration is the least of its problems. Hell, Dolph may provide the best version of the character, compared to what we’ll be getting later.

In this version, Castle has been active for a few years, and the subject of a one-man manhunt carried out by old cop friend Jake Berkowitz, played by the ever slumming Louis Gossett Jr. I generally prefer this approach, as nothing slows a superhero movie down more than an endless origin story. If it’s done well (Superman: The Movie, Batman Begins for the most part, even Swamp Thing does it pretty well), it can enhance the movie, and make for a richer, fuller cinematic experience that’s both exciting and rewarding.

If done poorly, it just comes across as jerking off.

Here, we just get a quick flashback to Frank’s family getting killed, and really, with this character all you really need is that, plus a mention here and there as the film progresses. It’s not like Spider-Man, where you do sort of want to see him develop his powers a bit.

The movie establishes itself as more of a typical ‘80s low budget shoot-‘em-up (as if the casting of Dolph wasn’t enough of a clue) by sending Frank on a series of raids on various gangsters, before he runs into the main villains in the form of mob boss Gianni Franco, played by Jeroen Krabbe (who wants Frank to help rescue some kidnapped mob kids), and Lady Tanaka (Kim Miyori), a Yakuza boss who’s carried out the kidnapping.

Frank may be missing the iconic t-shirt, and he might not be as interesting as he generally is, and he may be more of a tough-guy biker, but he can still call down the thunder when he needs to. Fortunately, while Dolph may not be the greatest actor in the world, he’s a world class karate expert, so the action scenes have a good sense of rhythm and fun to them.

It’s strange that I enjoy this movie as much as I do, because in all honesty, it really is a terrible movie. The low budget shows itself off like a Times Square flasher, performances are generally bad (when Dolph Lundgren is giving the best performance of the movie... Jesus!), and while there’s a ton of action, it rarely rises above the level of “Well, it’s noisy enough that no one’s gonna fall asleep!”

That being said, I fully disagree that Dolph Lundgren makes for a bad version of the character. Face it, the man is supposed to be a broken, burnt-out, hollow shell of a human being who now has the emotional range of the average psychopath with a touch of humanity that flares up every now and then.

Bottom line: You don’t need to be an especially vivid actor to play this role. Dolph Lundgren hits the notes he needs to, and makes for a perfectly acceptable version of the Punisher. Damn shame the film also makes him boring.

You do, however, need to turn a profit if you want to get a series going. The film was released everywhere but America and Sweden in 1989, and it didn’t even hit the U.S. until 1991, and even then it went straight to video. It was one of the last films made by New World Pictures that got a theatrical release. Which is a shame, since despite all its flaws, it’s probably the best Punisher film out there. It works both as an action film and as a comic book film.

The Punisher (2004): Starring Thomas Jane and John Travolta

By 2004, the superhero movie was in something of a renaissance. Spider-Man and the X-Men were cleaning up at the box office, and Batman was a year away from making a rather amazing comeback.

In the midst of this, a new version of the Punisher was commissioned. Gone was Dolph Lundgren on a bike, and in his place was Thomas Jane as Frank Castle, complete with iconic skull-face symbol, and John Travolta as the main villain.

The 2004 version of The Punisher is truer to the original comics, but is also a worse movie than the first in some ways. Clearly, the intent was to do a full origin story (the bane of superhero cinema), so we get about forty five minutes of character building, with Frank living happily with his family (headed by Roy Scheider as his dad) after retiring from the FBI.

His happiness is, of course, short-lived, since on his last mission he ends up killing the son of crime lord Howard Saint, played by old Dimple Chin himself. Saint (well, actually his wife) orders a hit on Frank’s family. And we’re not just talking his wife and kid; the ambush comes at a family reunion where the entire Castle family tree is brutally chopped down.

Say what you will about the movie, but you do have to give it points for being wiling to go over the top.