History Film / ThePunisher2004

The film has an unofficial/unauthorized sequel starring Creator/ThomasJane and Creator/RonPerlman, [[WritingAroundTrademarks titled]] ''Film/DirtyLaundry''. However, the 2005 video game ''VideoGame/ThePunisherTHQ'' is technically considered to be the only known official follow-up to the movie.

* AssholeVictim: Too many to list, but special mention goes to the older, long-haired goon [[spoiler:He get his face cut with his own knife, thrown into a small table, has his foot blown off with his own gun, has his arm twisted to the point of breaking at both the shoulder and the elbow, has his hand pinned to his thigh, resulting in a darkly amusing scream, and finally, stabbed through the mouth, once again, with his own knife]]. Given that he killed Castle Sr. and possibly several other innocent people, he deserves every ounce of the pain.

** Howard tries to make one himself trying to intimidate the Cartel from turning on him by saying "I got more guns then you do." only for awkwardly Quentin to point out that they don't actually have more guns.

* BadassBaritone: Frank's voice becomes much gruffer after his family dies.

* VillainousBreakdown: Saint suffers one once he realizes Frank is alive and well, and had begun targeting his criminal empire. It comes to a head when Saint [[spoiler:kills his best friend and cruelly kills his wife, after being led to believe they've been cheating on him]].

* SuspiciousSpending: Inverted in the Extended Cut. Frank doesn't suspect anything about Weeks until he notices that his former partner no longer owns many of his luxury items, including his Rolex and his beloved Porsche. [[spoiler:He sold them off to cover his immense gambling debt, which is what Saint used to blackmail him into betraying Frank.]]

* ToThePain: Frank Castle interrogates low-level mob gofer Mickey Duka by making a show of turning on an oxy-acetylene torch and going behind the mook to burn his back, explaining to him that "You won't feel the pain at first, you'll just feel... Cold." He pretends to start burning off his skin as he asks questions, all the while he's just pointing the torch at a raw steak and touching his victim's skin with a popsicle to simulate being burned. ''Mickey talks''.

* TrappedByGamblingDebts: Some deleted scenes show how Howard Saint found Frank's hideout: He blackmailed [[spoiler: Frank's FBI buddy]] through his gambling debts.

* TortureForFunAndInformation: The Punisher strings a man up by his ankles and explains that a blowtorch will kill nerves so quickly that the victim doesn't feel pain so much as a sense of numbness. He then lights his blowtorch behind the victim so he can't see, directs it at a raw piece of meat, and drags a Popsicle along the man's back. The victim almost instantly gives up everything he knows, totally convinced he can smell his flesh burning even as it's numbed by the intense heat. In this case, the Punisher uses intense mental anguish rather than physical agony, but the pain was just as real and probably more severe. This is directly taken from the comic book.

* TortureForFunAndInformation: The Punisher strings a man up by his ankles and explains that a blowtorch will kill nerves so quickly that the victim doesn't feel pain so much as a sense of numbness. He then lights his blowtorch behind the victim so he can't see, directs it at a raw piece of meat, and drags a Popsicle along the man's back. The victim almost instantly gives up everything he knows, totally convinced he can smell his flesh burning even as it's numbed by the intense heat. In this case, the Punisher used intense mental anguish rather than physical agony, but the pain was just as real and probably more severe. This is directly taken from the comic book.

* TitleDrop: At the end of the film, Frank Castle [[ThatManIsDead accepted his fate as a wanted vigilante]] by forsaking his name and calling himself ''The Punisher''.

* SenselessViolins: Harry Heck's introductory scene sets this trope up, with Frank eyeing him cautiously as he sets down a guitar case and pops it open to reveal... [[SubvertedTrope a guitar]], which he then uses to play a song about Frank's inevitable death as a [[AffablyEvil friendly warning]] that Heck was coming to kill him.

* SleepingWithTheBosssWife: Invoked by Frank Castle, who stages things to [[GuileHero manipulate]] mob boss Howard Saint into believing that his right-hand man is having an affair with his wife. The minion was actually [[{{Gayngster}} a closeted gay man]], which Howard didn't know, [[SecretKeeper but his wife did]]. He doesn't believe her when she brings this up, thinking she's tarnishing his friend's memory, [[spoiler: and kills them both]], only to be horrified when he discovers the truth from Frank later.

* RichBitch: Livia Saint. She was the one who wanted to see Frank's entire family dead in retaliation for the death of her son in the first place.

* MrFanservice: Creator/ThomasJane spent a lot of time building up his physique for the film, and spends a lot of time {{shirtless|Scene}}.

* MoneyToThrowAway: Frank appears to be RobbingTheMobBank, but we then see him using a HollywoodGlassCutter to cut a hole in the window, which he forces the mobsters to throw the money (aside from a {{briefcase|FullOfMoney}} of it) through onto the street outside. The two goons guarding the lobby only realize what's happening when everyone in the building rushes outside to grab the falling cash.
* MotherRussiaMakesYouStrong: The colossal blond hitman known simply as "The Russian" (who is almost impervious to pain).

* ReCut: An extended cut of the film was released on DVD in 2006; it featured seventeen minutes of additional footage that fills in some of the plot holes (such as one that revolves around Jimmy Weeks, Frank's best friend, [[spoiler:and Frank realizing that it was Weeks that sold him out to Howard Saint]]), features an animated introduction that follows Frank's time in Kuwait (based on the work of artist Tim Bradstreet), and generally improves on the film as compared to its theatrical cut.

** [[Creator/RoyScheider Roy Scheider]] and [[Creator/ThomasJane Thomas Jane]], who play father and son have played the main characters that have fought sharks: Scheider as Chief Martin Brody in [[Film/{{Jaws}} Jaws]] and [[Film/Jaws2 Jaws 2]], and Jane as Carter Blake in [[Film/DeepBlueSea Deep Blue Sea]].

* ComplexityAddiction: In comparison to most depictions of the Punisher, Frank goes out of his way to [[spoiler:make Howard think that his second-in-command and his wife are having an affair so that he'll kill them both himself]]. And that's nothing compared to the [[spoiler:giant flaming skull he sets up at the very end]]. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] in that Frank doesn't want to just kill Howard, he wants to make him ''suffer''.

** Frank even before getting treatment from the 'Witch Doctor' still manages to barely survive multiple gunshot wounds and an explosion.

* MoneyToThrowAway: Frank appears to be RobbingTheMobBank, but we then see him using a HollywoodGlassCutter to cut a hole in the window, which he forces the mobsters to throw the money through onto the street outside. The two goons guarding the lobby only realize what's happening when everyone in the building rushes outside to grab the falling cash.

** The police seem pretty useless at finding Frank after he guns down two men in public, though the mob have no problem sending hitmen to his house.

** PlayedStraight at the same time: [[spoiler: Saint and the Toros confront Weeks on how he's still gambling after he's already sold all his possessions. Turns out Weeks is also [[StealingFromTheTill stealing money from the FBI evidence locker]], which gives Saint additional leverage over him.]]

--> '''The Punisher''': Those who do evil to others — the killers, the rapists, psychos, sadists — you will come to know me well. Frank Castle is dead. Call me... the ''Punisher''.

%%* WellDoneSonGuy: Bobby Saint wanted to become a weapons dealer so he could make his own money and to impress his father

* MagicalNegro: There is [[ChekhovsGunman a brief reference to a 'Witch Doctor']] living off on an island near the Puerto Rico resort. [[spoiler:He later saves Castle after he's gotten a round straight to the chest, near the heart, and left to die after a massive explosion on the pier he was on. After Frank's recovery,]] he then proceeds to never show up again. The novelization explains that he simply likes his privacy.

** [[ImplacableMan The Russian]] as well, he even willingly lets Frank ''stab'' without flinching.

* GuileHero: Frank Castle. As part of his BatmanGambit, Frank's plan for revenge was that after returning to the States, he would [[spoiler:make it appear to Howard Saint that his wife and his right-hand man Quentin are having an affair. After Saint kills both of them for the perceived betrayal, Frank makes his final assault on Saint's posh nightclub; Castle kills Saint's other son, tells Howard he killed his wife and best friend for nothing (Saint's wife was innocent and Quentin was gay), then sends him to a fiery death]].

* KickTheDog: Howard Saint responding to Frank Castle killing his son in self-defense by ordering his entire family massacred.
* {{Leitmotif}}: Saint's wife has one. The Punisher himself gets a very memorable [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Np2_9JcVZaA one]].

* GuileHero: Frank Castle. As part of his BatmanGambit, Frank's plan for revenge was that after returning to the States, he would [[spoiler:make it appear to Howard Saint that his wife and his right-hand man are having an affair. After Saint kills both of them for the perceived betrayal, Frank makes his final assault on Saint's posh nightclub; Castle kills Saint's other son, tells Howard he killed his wife and best friend for nothing (he framed Saint's wife as cheating with his best friend, not knowing his friend was gay), then sends him to a fiery death]].

* ImplacableMan: The Russian, a massive behemoth of a man who shrugs off punches, kicks, blunt force trauma, stab wounds, and ''walls'' as if they were minor nuisances. The first thing that seems to faze him is getting several quarts of boiling water thrown in his face.

** The fight with The Russian has both combatants improvising weapons such as a wooden crate and a ''[[TheCanKickedHim toilet]]''

* IronicName: The entire Saint family are, well, lets just say, anything but saints.
* IronicNickname: Cutter, the man left at the apartment to kill Frank, has his head cut open by Frank

* DeadMansSwitch: A variation where Frank Castle forces John Saint to hold an anti-personnel mine (that would kill Saint if he let go of it) one-handed, with his arm extended. Even though John's a fit man, he can only do this for so long before his SoundOnlyDeath.

* CassandraTruth: [[spoiler:Saint doesn't buy Livia's defense that Quentin was gay, thanks to his now-dead friend having been so deep in the closet.]]
--> '''Howard Saint''': You would say ''anything'', wouldn't you?!

* CarFu: Harry Heck started his assault by driving his CoolCar into Frank's own. [[spoiler:A case of TRAIN Fu happens when Saint kills his wife by dropping her off a bridge, directly in the path of a speeding locomotive.]]

* BlackAndGrayMorality: Frank is a vigilante willing to torture people to get his vengeance. However, the Saints murdered his entire family, including the children, being only slightly sympathetic due to grieving their son Frank killed during a police shootout.

** [[Creator/RoyScheider Roy Scheider]] and [[Creator/ThomasJane Thomas Jane]], who play father and son have played the main characters that have fought sharks: Scheider as Chief Martin Brody in [[Film/{{Jaws}}]] and [[Film/Jaws2 Jaws 2]], and Jane as Carter Blake in [[Film/DeepBlueSea Deep Blue Sea]].

** [[Creator/RoyScheider Roy Scheider]] and [[Creator/ThomasJane Thomas Jane]], who play father and son have played the main characters that have fought sharks: Scheider as Chief Martin Brody in [[Film/Jaws Jaws]] and [[Film/Jaws2 Jaws 2]], and Jane as Carter Blake in [[Film/DeepBlueSea Deep Blue Sea]].

** [[Creator/RoyScheider Roy Scheider]] and [[Creator/ThomasJane Thomas Jane]], who play father and son have played the main characters that have fought sharks: Scheider as Chief Martin Brody in ''Film/Jaws'' and ''Film/Jaws2'' and Jane as Carter Blake in ''Film/DeepBlueSea''.