‘The Punisher’ reloaded -- will the third time be the charm?

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Is it finally time to take your punishment? Frank Castle, a.k.a. the Punisher, is one of the great Marvel Comics characters but you sure wouldn’t know it from the two clumsy Hollywood adaptations. The 1989 Dolph Lundgren movie took away his skull-logo costume and the 2004 Thomas Jane affair took him out of New York’s urban jungle and plopped him down in South Florida ... what are you people thinking?

Now comes a third try with the Lionsgate film ‘Punisher: War Zone,’ which stars Ray Stevenson and hits theaters Dec. 5. Thankfully, this time it actually looks pretty good. One of the trailers:

It hasn’t been an easy production, apparently. There was considerable chatter in the fan press that director Lexi Alexander, a native of Germany and a former karate and kickboxing champion, had been fired from the film or forced to bow to cuts that would make the natural R-rated project into a PG-13 film. (I talked to Lionsgate today about lining up an interview with Alexander soon so maybe I can get some insight into what happened.)

Anyway, Alexander is definitely on board now, and to prove it she recorded a message to fans and has selected a clip from the film that shows some high-caliber action. You can find that message and clip at the movie’s sleek official website.

-- Geoff Boucher