The Punisher: No Mercy (Fan Film) Review

The Punisher: No Mercy (Fan Film) Review By Panagiotis Drakopoulos

     

      The Punisher character has a great amount of source material, ranging from the original mini-series from 1986 to the classic Punisher Max runs from Garth Ennis and Jason Aaron. But when trying to bring the character into the cinematic world, the results have been average at best.

      Punisher: No Mercy is a fan film done by Kombat Krews Films from Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The film is directed J. Ambrus and written by Davila LeBlanc and Shawn Baichoo. Baichoo also stars in the film as Frank Castle aka The Punisher and Amber Goldfarb as Elektra. The premise of PNM is about The Punisher tracking down crime boss Dominic Duran (James Malloch) and his gang.
      This fan film has done something in eighteen minutes that Hollywood is unable to pull off in three feature length films, a good Punisher film. The story is straightforward, fun, and doesn’t waste any time by jumping right into Frank Castle being a bad ass. Pretty much The Punisher tracking down the criminals and killing them in the process with Elektra showing up and having a great fight scene with Frank. All of the action and gunplay scenes were realistic and had a natural flow to them. For the a low budget fan film CGI is impressive but a couple of CGI shots when it comes to certain character deaths it’s a bit rough, it noticeable but it doesn’t drag down the film. Baichoo does a great job in his performance of Frank Castle. He greatly respects the source material and provides a serious and gritty version to the character that viewers can relate to his motives. For the little screen time that Elektra is the film, Amber Goldfarb is able to make the most of this role. Her outfit looks realistic, something like a modern female ninja and never once felt out of the place in the sitting of the film or cheesy. The look and feel of this fan film is heavily influenced by the Punisher Max series. Everything from Frank’s voice-over to lighting is pretty much an homage or love letter the max series.

      No Mercy offers up a ray of light to Punisher fans and a blueprint for Marvel trying to bring this character back on the big screen. The fan film is free and available on YouTube at this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFvIULVPEC8. A must watch for all fans of Frank Castle.