DVD review (Region 1)
Directed by Jonathan Hensleigh
Starring Thomas Jane, John Travolta, Will Patton, Eddie Jemison
Release date Out now

When the family of Frank Castle (Thomas Jane) is brutally murdered he becomes… The Punisher.

Adding another 17 minutes to what was already a monotonously over-long film is bad enough but when four minutes are taken up by a hilariously poorly animated opening sequence it starts to look insulting. The Punisher's main problem was always that it took far too long to get going, so delayingthe death of Castle's family by another 10 minutes just makes the whole affair that much more tedious.

The special edition dumps most of the (rather impressive) extras from the first DVD in favour of extra runtime, the majority of scenes cut from the 2004 theatrical version involve FBI Agent Jimmy Weeks and it's not hard to see why they were cut.

The best scenes are taken almost directly from Garth Ennis' initial run on the Punisher comic book. There's nothing wrong with that, but it affects the movie’s coherence, lurching wildly between inspired violent comedy and self-absorbed brooding. If you've already got the film then you don't need this edition, and if you don't have the movie… lucky you. Ned Hartley

VERDICT: 3/10
A completely inessential extended edition.