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'Punisher' has one fresh element: us

You've seen this movie's violent-revenge fare before. But you haven't seen the Tampa Bay area, where filming was done, provide such a good-looking backdrop.

I confess. The plus symbol in the C-plus grade for The Punisher is a lapse of professionalism because this $34-million adaptation of a Marvel Comics antihero was filmed locally last year. If film critics in Texas can laud the equally mediocre The Alamo, I should be able to take a little pride in seeing our community onscreen.

Tampa Bay area, you look marvelous. Certainly we're a fresh urban locale - with pseudo-Puerto Rico versatility - giving the film a different look from New York, Los Angeles and other cities where gritty crime dramas typically occur. Not much else about The Punisher feels as new. It's just different polish on well-worn material, in this case a violent revenge flick. (To know what's possible with that cliche, see the Kill Bill volumes.)

As locally produced films go, The Punisher fits closer in ranking to Cop and a Half than Cocoon. But when so few major productions have used our resources for an entire shoot, who can complain? Except viewers everywhere else, of course.

The film opens in Tampa's shipyards, where an FBI sting led by agent Frank Castle (Thomas Jane) results in the death of a gunrunner. The victim turns out to be the son of wealthy Howard Saint (John Travolta), who, with the urging of his Lady Macbeth-style wife (Laura Harring), orders Castle's family murdered.

After the mass murders, a particularly brutal affair, Castle survives being shot, blown up and nearly drowned to adopt the role of the black-clad Punisher, complete with a skull logo shirt. He isn't a superhero (except in his recuperative skills) but a highly trained killer with an armored vehicle, big guns and grief soaked in Wild Turkey. Castle plots to not only kill Saint but publicly and personally humiliate him before it happens.

First-time director Jonathan Hensleigh keeps the wheels steadily spinning, sometimes in their tracks. As with most first installments of comic book heroics, spelling out origins takes up too much time. The movie could be much leaner. Then again, we wouldn't see as much of ourselves on the silver screen, would we? The third act is fairly satisfying as Castle's scheme falls into place and the villain gets a decently painful sendoff.

Jane acquits himself well in the title role, with the brood and body of a budding action hero. Hensleigh's screenplay (with a shared credit for St. Pete Beach resident Michael France) adds a grudgingly gentle side through Castle's relationship with his tenement neighbors: mousy Joan (Rebecca Romijn-Stamos), and nerds Spacker Dave (Ben Foster) and Mr. Bumpo (John Pinette). They don't have anything to do with the plot but occasionally wander into the line of fire.

Travolta's performance is troubling. His lack of expression that I'm guessing is supposed to mask evil or grief mostly reflects disinterest. There isn't any flash to Howard Saint or his underlings, with the possible exception of the Russian (pro wrestler Kevin Nash), a hired killer. The most interesting chemistry isn't between Saint and his wife but between the wife and Saint's right-hand man (Will Patton), part of that third-act upswing.

The action sequences are throwbacks to days long before wire stunts and bullet-time photography, when Lee Marvin and Charles Bronson muscled their way to justice. At times, the violence is almost repulsive, as when Castle's wife and son are run down by a speeding truck and a paper-cutter blade finds a new use. Hensleigh learned fast how to stage mayhem, with local streets regularly set ablaze.

The Punisher is tough enough to satisfy fans of the Marvel series, yet perhaps too ordinarily hectic to impress action fans in general. We've seen all this in the past, with one notable exception: We never saw it happen here before.

Grade: C-plus

Director: Jonathan Hensleigh

Cast: Thomas Jane, John Travolta, Laura Harring, Will Patton, Rebecca Romijn-Stamos, Samantha Mathis, Ben Foster, John Pinette, Kevin Nash

Screenplay: Jonathan Hensleigh, Michael France

Rating: R; brutal violence, profanity, brief nudity

Running time: 114 min.