The Punisher/The Punisher: War Zone (UK-import)
Double bill of action thrillers based on the 1970s Marvel comic strip. In 'The Punisher' (2004) Frank Castle (Tom Jane) is a retired FBI agent spurred into action after the merciless revenge killing of his wife, father, and son. Despite having no special powers, Castle adopts the superhero guise of The Punisher, and sets out to wreak vengeance for his dead family by tracking down the culprits responsible for their demise. All clues point to Howard Saint (John Travolta), a ruthless businessman and nightclub owner whose young son was mistakenly killed by Castle in a botched undercover operation back in his FBI days. In 'The Punisher: War Zone' (2008) the infamous vigilante Frank Castle (Ray Stevenson) returns seeking revenge for the murder of his wife and children, and when he discovers that a New York crime syndicate was responsible, he brutally assaults every member of the group. As well as severely disfiguring gangster Billy Russoti (Dominic West), Castle also unwittingly murders an undercover FBI agent. As a result, Castle soon finds himself pursued by the NYPD's special Punisher Task Force unit, which is joined by the dead federal agent's former partner, Paul Budiansky (Colin Salmon). Meanwhile, Russoti, now using the alias Jigsaw, has assembled a massive army of mobsters and killers to try and bring Castle down, using the surviving wife (Julie Benz) and daughter of the dead agent as bait.