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 Following are comments and pictures on the much talked-about Punisher's deleted scenes. You will also read about deleted scenes, dialogues and the prologue originaly set at the beginning on the movie's comic adaptation by Carl Potts and Brent Anderson based on the screenplay. In this comic version, and as Boaz Yakin wrote, the Punisher paints a skull on his t-shirt just before the final showdown. "We figured out that the origin sequence would have taken up the film's first 17 minutes, and we felt it was important to get into the Punisher's world right away. So we decided to create the origin in a flashback sequence and integrate it totally into the Punisher's world and make this a true Punisher film from beginning to end." director Mark Goldblatt in Comics Scene, # 8, June 1989 "I
really liked the scenes where we see him before he becomes the
Punisher, when he is still an ordinary cop, before the slaughter
of his family five years sooner." The scenes featured on the following pictures are missing from the workprint cut discussed below, as well the scene with Berkowitz and Leary discovering the Punisher's place in the sewer (featured on the official comic adaptation):   "People say whan a man begins to talk to God, he's either found his way or lost his mind. I'm not looking for the way and don't care if I 've lost my mind. I just want to know if what I'm doing is right or wrong. but no matter how many times I ask I get no answer. Does that mean there is no God or just no answer?" FRANK CASTLE / THE PUNISHER in the movie comic adaptation Workprint version pictures & review (review from http://www.cutlassvideo.com/The_Punisher.html, the screenshots pictures come from the webmaster) Version: Workprint. Format: NTSC DVD-R. (available from Asylum of Oblivion) Running Time: 99 Minutes. Language: Dolby Digital Mono English. WARNING!. This review gives a way quite a lot of the plot so if you haven't seen the film let you might not want to read all of it. This workprint is a full screen transfer from a PAL source. It is soft and too bright with a lack of detail, especially in dark scenes and colours are washed out. It's watchable though and you can never expect too much from workprints. The mono soundtrack is a rough mix using music from other films including Aliens, Predator, Lethal Weapon, Full Metal Jacket and Rambo. Sound effects are basic but serve their purpose and dialogue is mostly clear. This version runs 99 minutes at PAL speed with no opening or closing credits compared to 85 minutes for the Dutch version. When you knock off the time for the credits, the Dutch version runs 79 minutes making the workprint 20 minutes longer. (plot spoilers from here onwards) There is a 16 minute opening scene showing Castle and Berkowitz working together to bust Franco with Sam Leary working undercover as a prostitute. Webmaster's additional review: The begining scenes show Dolph/Frank Castle and Lou Gossett Jr/Berkowitz as the same kind of Lethal Weapon duo with family scenes. Unlike Lethal Weapon, it's the black cop who's like adopted by his partner's wife and children... Dolph makes a big jump in one scenes (maybe it's the one he's talking about in some interviews that nobody wanted to let him do it...) The rest of the movie is edited almost exactly than the final cut but there are a few extra shots (like in the fight with the two yakuza bodyguards) or dialogue lines. On this work version the sound effects and music (a previous arrangement of Dennis Dreith's score is heard in the first scene only, the soundtrack plays cues from other movies and the Tangerine Dream band) are not edited yet but it's ok (and it makes the fight with the bodyguards more authentic, like a real kyokushin fight). The Punisher's monologues (co-written by Dolph himself) aren't edited yet. As the previous review says, the final scene is different: the Punisher and Franco/Jeroen Krabbe doesn't have their fight and Franco is just stabbed in the back. But when Tommy points his gun at the Punisher, the scene is indeed more intense but maybe they found it too shocking as the tone is already very serious in the final cut. But Dolph's acting explodes here and shows already the kind of range that we could see only later in Universal Soldier. The film ends here on Berkowitz calling for Frank from the building's roof.          BERKOWITZ -At least we got the dope. Let's go home.  We also see Castle with his wife Julie (May Lloyd) and daughters Felice (Holly Rogers) and Annie (Brooke Anderson) as well as Berkowitz's closeness to them which explains his outburst at Castle later in the film ("They were my fucking family too!").        We then see Castle's family killed in the car explosion that is shown in flashback in the first scene of the released version.       Later in the film when Leary is talking to Castle in the police van the scene where Castle asks her to call Berkowitz is extended. Leary asks Castle what he wants her to tell Berkowitz and Castle replies "When he visits it's his turn to bring the pie". After the police van is rammed and Castle snatched by Franco's men there is a scene showing Berkowitz visiting Leary in hospital. They talk about The Punisher and she gives him Castle's message about the pie. Berkowitz then leaves the hospital and is kidnapped by Franco's men.  The ending is slightly different. Franco dies from a knife wound instead of a gun shot and the bit where Tommy Franco is going to kill The Punisher is much more intense with The Punisher first pointing the gun at Tommy before handing it to him and shouting at him to "Blow my brains out!"                 FILM: 8/10. PICTURE: 5/10. SOUND: 5/10. PACKAGING: N/A. |
