The Punisher (1989)

The Punisher is a 1989 Australian-American action film directed by Mark Goldblatt, written by Boaz Yakin, and starring Dolph Lundgren and Louis Gossett Jr. Based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name, the film changes many details of the character's comic book origin and the main character does not wear the trademark "skull" shirt. Shot in Sydney, Australia, The Punisher co-stars Jeroen Krabbé, Kim Miyori, Nancy Everhard, and Barry Otto.

Why It's Punished

 * 1) The movie isn't very faithful to the source material it's based on, changing many details of Frank Castle's backstory and even removing the iconic skull icon from his costume. In fact, you can literally take Frank out of the movie and replace him with anyone else and the movie wouldn't change at all.
 * 2) Although we do get to see Frank Castle's backstory, there isn't much plot to it. The rest of the movie involves boring and repetitive action with very little plot. It is also overstuffed with pretty much every 80s action movie trope.
 * 3) Frank is given barely any development outside of the backstory, and even then the backstory feels rushed as it is only told through 10 second flashbacks.
 * 4) Poor acting from the entire cast that feels stiff and boring to listen to.
 * 5) Poor action scenes with bad choreography that feels way too tame, slow and improvised, and the cinematography and editing of the scenes feels shaky and cheap.
 * 6) The production values are horrendously bad. This would be fine - if the movie wasn't made near the end of the 80s.
 * 7) Extremely juvenile and laughable dialouge that makes the film cheesier than it needs to be.
 * 8) No Punisher-related villains just the Yakuza being as generic and underwhelming villains who are the typical evil gang with no personality.

The Only Redeeming Quality

 * 1) Everything about the film is so over-the-top and cheesy that it's fun to watch for an 80s action movie (depending on your view).