MOVIE REVIEW: THE PUNISHER

It's 5:14 a.m. and still dark out the window. Patrick got up and promtly got in bed with Junior. He needs his 20 hours sleep per day. It's 71 degrees out.

Junior took me to the video store last night and he rented "The Punisher" with John Travolta and Rebecca Romain (sic). I wanted to see what she looked like and whether or not she could act, after seeing her in the X-men movies. She looks fine nekkid and all blue as "Mystique" but as a human all we got was a short scene as Grace.

Punisher is another Marvel comics hero brought to the big screen and is a good watch if you like plenty of shooting and racing vintage GTO's, which we do. There ARE some places where you have to suspend all belief, which you shouldn't have to, as this is an action adventure, not a super hero or science fiction flick. For example the assassination team blows everybody away on the beach, and eventually Punisher in a very unprofessional anad sloppy manner. Ditto, the assassin from Memphis, who alerts his prey with his twelve string and a song...Un, don't think so. Anyway, I give it two thumbs up, but I think Becky is under-utilized. I'm not sure WHY she was cast. Certainly not to give her cache as a Super-Model to the film's credits--It's already got Travolta for Box office appeal. And they dress her in the most unflattering of costumes and don't exploit her sensuality at all--There's no love scene, not even any flirting, frankly we don't get it. She does a creditable acting job, but she's not asked to give much. Maybe she just wanted to do a film in which she could say, "Look, I can do a movie in which I'm plain and boring, unattractive and understated." Donno. So it goes.

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