"PUNISHER: WAR ZONE made 80% less than THE PUNISHER did and gave more screen time to a black FBI agent than it did to Frank Castle. If it came out right now you'd be calling it a WOKE FLOP and doing your best to make the female director's life utterly miserable."
You know what this reminds me of? This reminds me of GamerGate, when criticizing Anita, Zoey or Wu was the same thing as wanting to destroy their lives in the most horrible way possible and the exact same thing as sending them rape and death threats. This line of "reasoning" usually came from outlets like Kotaku or Polygon.
One thing though, at least in the case of those three luminaries, they were actually receiving criticism. Richard has taken it a step further by creating criticism fan fiction in his head and basically saying that if in this theoretical parallel world Gary was doing Youtube criticism, he'd be making the female director's life miserable. Uh-huh. good one Richard.
Punisher Warzone did make less money than Punisher. Both are pretty even when it comes to theater release and run length (Punisher was in the theaters for a week more with only slightly more theaters playing it but it hardly matters). Furiosa made less money than Mad Max Fury Road and played in more theaters for less time, why? Because by the 49th day in theaters, it had made about 75% less. (All of these numbers are just domestic since it's easier to track) But why keep it going? It also significantly dropped in theaters showing it by the same time mark. So what the fuck is his point even? But whatever, that's not even that important because determining the money doesn't mean quality, it just means retards are seeing the movie. He's also using the number 80% because it's big. Fact is, both movies flopped with Punisher making 54mil worldwide to a budget of 33mil, Punisher Warzone did worse and even lost a lot of money. So again... what's his point?
So what about the quality of Punisher Warzone? Ray Stevenson is a lot of people's choice for "underrated Punisher" who never really got his dues since the movie came out when comic book movies were still really not hitting it unless you were a big-name hero or some other various factors. Gary et al don't claim the movie is flawless, or amazing, or even technically "good" (though I would argue there are a lot of really well-composed shots that give you a feeling of more than just some 80s action flick) but they enjoyed it, they had fun with it. EFAP famously loves Batman and Robin for its camp. They don't claim it's a great film. Gary would also agree with Richard in saying it's a flop, because despite his best efforts to paint them the opposite, they actually can acknowledge when things flop - speaking of things that flop that they recognize as flops but good: The Thing and Blade Runner. Another thing he attributes to them though it's never been said by them directly: is the female director. I don't know who knows this but the director was not a comic book fan when approached. Before P:W she had only made short films and nothing mainstream, almost exactly like directors hired by DisneyMarvel now. There's a difference though: When the executives asked her to do this job she went into it with her all - she asked for the comics, she read them, she understood that most of it was just hyper violence that Punisher fans enjoyed. You can disagree with her, but the mass audience who only knew Punisher as a "dude with guns and skulls" was pretty much the norm at that time. So she played to that strength. And they acknowledge it, and haven't said anything negative about her despite her putting out a flop of a film.
Gary and his ilk recognize that, and they haven't spent time saying "Punisher was fun and enjoyable and Ray was amazing, and the action was fun but fuck that stupid cunt director woman!" As Richard would have anyone willing to listen believe. They mention the movie a bit, not a whole lot because at the end of the day it's just a throw away film from 2008 that no one except cult followers saw. But when they do mention it, they speak highly about how fun it is. A few things I observed while watching the movie which would probably be reasons why they wouldn't rate it as woke is: There is 1 female supporting character, the wife of the FBI agent's friend. She has one scene where she puts a gun to Frank, but given the circumstances, it's understandable and not at all a "wOmEn R bEtTeR" nonsense. There's a female cop, who gets impaled on a sword with no fanfare or fight, she just dies. There's a mobster's fat wife who pulls a gun and gets her neck snapped instantly by Frank. These women don't put up a fight, or bust up Frank, they aren't what you'd consider "woke". Black people exist, just because one of them is an agent and is on the Frank Castle case doesn't mean anything specifically. Frank gets into a fight with the "black FBI agent" and pretty much comes out the most unscathed. That's about it... It's the worst example of straw-manning Richard could come up with, but that's par for the course with him nowadays. Do better retard.
Rate me autistic, but I took this time to watch Punisher Warzone again because I happen to like the movie and I wanted to see if Richard was wrong again or not. Sure, I didn't have to do this but fuck Richard for making me sit here and defend Gary.
Punisher/Frank Castle screen time: around 30 minutes
"black FBI agent" screen time: little over 6 minutes
Screen time shared together: 5 and a half minutes.
These are in no way hyper-accurate, but yeah... as if anyone needed confirmation - Richard is so wrong I'm actually not convinced he even has seen Punisher Warzone.
Also worth noting: Frank is in more scenes (duh), he's in more action, and he has a fight with the FBI agent and beats him up. Also of note I really love the iconic missile-to-body explosion that happens, makes me really sad we don't see crazy shit like this, two of the better lines come from Budiansky (that's the character Richard couldn't name) namely when he cuffs Frank and follows up a warning from Castle with "You have the right to SHUT THE FUCK UP" and another scene where he's about to read the capo's rights, to which Frank blows his head up into a gush of blood and gore prompting him to yell out "GOD DAMN IT CASTLE!!" Jigsaw is such a classic comics villain in this, just fucking rotten for the sake of being a piece of shit, I love it.
I'll throw Richard a bone and assume he's being hyperbolic. Maybe he knows that Gary and the others don't actually believe there should never be any black people in any film ever. But there are a few movies that come to mind when he mentions this film in particular as a "you'd call it woke" post, the group loves The Thing and They Live, both films feature a white lead male, and a secondary lead played by a black man. I know Richard is letting Froggit put his dick in his mouth and it's affecting his ability to be truthful now, but he needs to at least try.
That's where the disappointment is for me, he's not even trying.
Stevenson was the best Punisher for me, but the rest of the film wasn't up for a serious take. But I haven't laughed harder since that random rocket-to-parkour gang execution. Still enjoyable.
He was my favorite as well, the film isn't amazing, it's just mindless 2000s throw-away action shlock from a woman who had no qualms making a bloody, gross Punisher film, so kudos to her.
Riley went to the warehouse again and nobody even mentioned that
Please elaborate on this, or direct me to where I can read/watch this, how recent was this?
If your wondering why we constantly talk about Zack and rarely talk about reviewtubers this is why.
Unless you're just being general with this "your" - I'll have you know, I don't wonder why. I'm part of it, you monkey!
The venue called the police because they heard that a fat goblinoid was making noise outside their building.
Did we ever get the hard-hitting ebadence that Juju and his KKKrew put out in the ether? Did they prove that it was big bad July who called and tattled on Riley?
I second guess people's motivations for everything all the time anymore.
I understand this sentiment but it's just Richard being a faggot again. They liked the female character in The Penguin because from what I've seen she actually earns her spot as being a competent interesting female character. Richard is just a disingenuous faggot who cannot get over the fact they didn't love Furiosa and suck her dick - and they call out all the actual unworthy female bosses that now he's just saying they always call out women, even when they don't.
Fuck he made me defend those idiots again.
edited for some clarifications
