Punisher: War Zone is the latest success to come out of Marvel Comics risky venture into producing their own films.

This is not a sequel to the 2004 Oscar contender starring Thomas Jane. Nor is it part of a trilogy that started with the infamous Dolph Lundgren’s portrayal of Frank Castle in 1989. No, War Zone is an entirely new entity, a reboot in the vein of this year’s Incredible Hulk, and the first entry into Marvel Studios new Marvel Knights film line.

War Zone strays quite a bit from the 2004 version, but stays so dramatically close to the Marvel MAX comics line made famous by Garth Ennis, that you would think they just filmed the pages.

The plot is fairly irrelevant, but the gist of it is this; mobsters killed Frank’s family, so Castle (Ray Stevenson) spends every waking hour eradicating anything remotely close to La Cosa Nostra. Castle will unload a whole clip into an order of Veal Scaloppini if Don Corleone ordered it. And that’s pretty much the extent of the depth of the Punisher mythos as depicted in this film.

The main character in War Zone is the violence. So over the top and borderline comical is the cavalier shedding of the red red kroovy that even the most weak-stomached viewer will quickly go from disgust to giddiness. At one point, Castle snuffs out a Mafioso’s life by punching through his face.

Director Lexi Alexander certainly knocked this one out of the park. Fans hesitant of the decision to hire a woman to bring these exploits to the screen need not worry. Alexander proved her mettle with 2005’s Green Street Hooligans, a film that explored male camaraderie, angst, and wasn’t hesitant at all with the violence. On top of that, Alexander is a former World Karate and Kickboxing Champion.

The casting is spot on. Stevenson looks exactly like one of cover artist Tim Bradstreet’s drawings of the world-weary vigilante. Stevenson looks just like he should, like the man has been slaughtering criminals wholesale for years and is completely dead behind the eyes. While it may sound odd to say that a performance in a movie of the ilk of Punisher: War Zone is haunting, when Castle is reminiscing about his dead family, it is just that.

The rest of the cast is rounded out by sundry miscreants and ne’er do wells, but the main competition for Frank and his quest of punishment are Dominic West’s Jigsaw and Doug Hutchinson’s Loony Bin Jim. Loony Bin Jim isn’t a character from the comics, but an original character created strictly for this film. Hutchinson originally balked at the role, citing that he did not feel connected to the part, but then accepted once Alexander re-wrote the script. Loony Bin Jim is possibly the dumbest character ever seen on screen, a career sociopath with cannibalistic tendencies. What that says about Hutchinson might be something he and his wife need to resolve.

Loony Bin Jim does to the Punisher mythos what Jar Jar Binks did to Star Wars.

West’s Jigsaw is the true shining star of this film. Formerly known as ‘Billy the Beaut,’ Jigsaw became the disfigured mess he is at the hands of Frank Castle and has a vendetta to fulfill. Jigsaw is reminiscent of Jack’s Joker in the 1989 Batman. Flamboyant and dangerously insane, he steals every scene he’s in. In most other films he would be annoying, but in the hyper exaggerated vision of violence that is War Zone, he is a welcome distraction, even with his terrible impression of what an Italian stereotype should sound like.

The rest of the characters, like Micro (Wayne Knight), Detective Soap (Dash Mihok) and Angela Donatelli (Julie Benz) are more or less roles that these actors have already phoned in before.

War Zone isn’t going to win any Academy Awards but it definitely accomplishes it’s intended purpose. Movies of this stature should have their own genre. This film is exactly what Shoot ‘Em Up wanted to be but failed to deliver. A pastiche that honors the action genre, but is a loving send-up at the same time, that takes the guidelines and clichés that have been run into the ground and makes them fresh and interesting again.

When a head explosion is timed so perfectly in a scene as to evoke laughter and not shrieking, that certainly says something about that particular movie. And maybe about the particular people that laughed, but this isn’t an advice column.

If a thought-provoking night at the movies with a box of Kleenex and maybe some Swedish Fish is the intended goal, Punisher: War Zone probably isn’t the right choice. If it’s a 1 hour and 47 minute run time filled with non-stop action and weapons that would make Dirty Harry envious, then War Zone is the right choice. And it is awesome.