Review in a Hurry: Rome's Ray Stevenson is the third cinematic incarnation of the comic book vigilante with the skull logo. He is also far and away the most brutally violent.
The Bigger Picture: Thomas Jane, star of the 2004 Punisher movie, turned down this intended sequel because he didn't like the script...but bear in mind, he apparently liked the script of the one he was in.
War Zone plays like a sequel, but it isn't, as the mercifully brief flashbacks explaining how Frank Castle becomes the Punisher hew closer to the comic book than the previous movie. Also here from the comic, for the first time, are Castle's tech-savvy sidekick Micro (Wayne Knight, more restrained than usual and the better for it) and arch-nemesis Jigsaw (Dominic West), possibly because Lionsgate knows from experience that they can easily market a franchise featuring a villain with that name.
In the tradition of many other superhero sequels, the premise here is that our costume-clad killer is having second thoughts about the gig after a major mistake comes back to haunt him. Naturally, the rise of a significant new villain is all the incentive he needs to change his mind on that score, especially since he had a hand in creating the demented and disfigured Jigsaw.
The movie's raison d'être, however, is its gloriously over-the-top kill scenes. Frank Castle may have the look and apparent strength of the Terminator, but the ultraviolent punishment he dishes out would make Freddy Krueger proud. He punches holes in people's faces, plays kick-the-can with a grenade, takes out a martial artist with a rocket launcher, slashes throats with glass and dining room implements, and generally solves every problem with massive destruction.
One of his foes is a hilarious nutball named Looney Bin Jim (Doug Hutchison) who delights in making gleefully boneheaded pronouncements before killing and/or eating people; if this movie were a person, it would be Looney Bin Jim. If it were a song, it would be "Let the Bodies Hit the Floor."
The 180—a Second Opinion: If you're looking for sympathetic characters, emotional depth, any hint of romance, or some kind of plot that makes sense, you'll hate this. If you try to find political subtext in its pro-violence agenda, you will also hate it. And if scenes of extreme gore being played for dark laughs disturb you, you sure ain't the target audience here.