The Punisher is the 2004 Lionsgate feature film based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name.
With liberties taken, this film is the second attempt to adapt Marvel's relentless, murderous vigilante to the big screen. Thomas Jane stars in a story that draws heavily from Garth Ennis' black-humor run on the character. In this one Frank Castle is an undercover FBI agent who finds himself in the cross-hairs of ruthless, criminal business tycoon Howard Saint (John Travolta). Saint's assassins kill everyone that Castle cares about but misses the man himself, sending him on a bloody rampage of revenge.
Directed by Jonathan Hensleigh from a script by Hensleigh and Michael France, The Punisher was not the franchise that the now-defunct Artisan Films was hoping for, but it did spawn an unofficial sequel short called "Dirty Laundry" in 2012.
