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I just saw this movie, and just as I had suspected the first the thing the writers did was re-write the history of the Punisher's origin, which was disappointing. The premise is basically the same though, Castle's family is killed and he goes on a rampage.
The lame "neighbor" characters should have been written out of the script completely, they were totally irrelevant to the story of The Punisher. John Travolta practically takes over the movie at one point, as the sinister yet totally wimpy Howard saint. Overall I think Thomas Jane did an excellent job playing the Punisher, despite the poorly plotted out storyline he had to work with.
The most interesting of Travolta's henchmen is "Harry Heck", the guitar playing hitman. Unfortunately he disappears almost as soon as he's introduced, which is disappointing since he is the most original character in the movie and he's only in two scenes. It would have been better to see more of the Harry Heck character.
Since i'm a big Punisher fan, I give this movie more credit than it deserves. It doesn't really get interesting until towards the end and they could have developed Castle's character alot more. I expected alot better but the movie does have its good moments, its worth checking out but don't expect an oscar-winning performance.