THE PUNISHER (Mark Goldblatt, 1989)

[dolphage]

Right, it's the "chest skull" from War Zone, serving as the background image. I don't mind that so much, but the blond hair and SUNGLASSES look is a little less "punisher-y" than I would have liked.

[Dida]

The blond hair picture is from Missionary Man

[dolphage]

If you where a bit shocked at that bad Missionary Man/Punisher cut-and-paste-job.

The blond hair picture is from Missionary Man

You don't say?

[leigh1975]

Ok, so WTF that's suppose to be?

Seems legit.

[Jox]

Yesterday i watched the blu ray of The Punisher.
I think the image is pretty good!

Is it really good? This review says the picture quality is average (and with PAL speed-up so it's not an HD transfer from a 35mm print source), and that the audio is mono (like the U.S. DVD)...
http://www.dvd-home.nl/index.php?option ... 99:blu-ray

I hope Koch Media are working on a more serious restoration for the upcoming edition!

Finally received the Dutch BD edition: R-rated cut version with PAL speed-up (85 mins instead of 89), 2.0 mono sound BUT decent picture. I still expect much better from the upcoming German special mediabook edition from Koch Media.

[Jox]

So it's official: THE PUNISHER will so come on BD from Anchor Bay on April 1st and here is the artwork:


(click for larger)

Normally we should expect decent work from Anchor Bay but here and given the price I'm afraid it's gonna be the same as the Dutch and Swedish one...

[savagesketch]

That is one cheesy photoshopped cover there... I especially like the skull emblem that has been tacked onto his jacket lapel...

[leigh1975]

British ratings site BBFC list the runtime as 85:24... Anybody have the dutch/swedish blu ray to compare?

http://www.bbfc.co.uk/releases/punisher-0

That is one cheesy photoshopped cover there... I especially like the skull emblem that has been tacked onto his jacket lapel...

True, but it looks badass on that spine...

[Jox]

British ratings site BBFC list the runtime as 85:24... Anybody have the dutch/swedish blu ray to compare?

http://www.bbfc.co.uk/releases/punisher-0

I do, and it's the same, which means it's at 25 frames a second speed-up (like PENTATHLON) instead of a proper HD master from a 35mm source at 24 frames/sec...

[leigh1975]

Damn. Still, it's the first time Punisher's been released here on a home format since the early 90s, and the first time we've even had the R-rated cut... so it's not a total loss at that price for us UK fans...

[Jox]

So Anchor Bay's is gonna be barebones.
Waiting for the technical specs, hoping this will not be from the same master as the Dutch edition.

The German special edition is to be announced soon when their artwork gets approved from MGM/Fox.

[Jox]

So Anchor Bay's UK release will the R-rated cut version, but the good news its a new HD remaster and the sound will be Stereo 2.0 (unlike the previous DVD editions or current Dutch Blu-ray release).

[leigh1975]

Mixture of slight disappointment and awesomeness!

[leigh1975]

I've just read somewhere (and now can't find it, dammit) that the actual reason for the missing 'skull' motif is not because it was too comic-booky as is generally thought, but actually because The studio didnt have full rights to the Punisher character, they were limited to the main character's name and origin, but none of his supporting characters could be used, nor his symbol. Is there any truth in this, Jox?

[Jox]

Never heard that before and that doesn't really makes sense. It's on the copyright, even Stan Lee's name is on the credits, and New World Pictures, the studio, actually owned the rights to many Marvel characters at the time, I think they had even acquired Marvel Comics, believe it or not.

The writer Boaz Yakin (who later became a director and recently did SAFE with Statham), was a big fan of the comic (he actually wrote it on "spec" before he managed to get his script through). In the script, Castle was supposed to spray the skull on his t-shirt before the final showdown in the yakuza headquarters. Yakin begged first-time producer Robert Mark Kamen (writer of the KARATE KID and all the current Luc Besson productions) until the last minute to re-include this in the film but he would hear none of it (I think he was the most against it, more than Goldblatt. But at the time whether you were doing THE PUNISHER (which isn't anything supernatural) or MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE as a live action picture, you were rather trying to make it more realistic... I don't say that they couldn't put on this skull, but they thought well this character wouldn't bother with doing something like that because he doesn't give a s**t about anything, especially not how he looks.