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Punisher: War Zone is a 2008 superhero film based on the fictional Marvel Comics vigilante and antihero the Punisher. The film is a reboot rather than a sequel to 2004's The Punisher, and is the first film to be produced under the Marvel Knights production banner, which will focus on films for mature audiences. British actor Ray Stevenson replaces Thomas Jane as Frank Castle. In the film, Castle wages a one-man war against a horribly disfigured mob boss known as Jigsaw (Dominic West). Punisher: War Zone was released in North America by Lionsgate on December 5, 2008.
Infamous vigilante, anti-hero Frank Castle (Ray Stevenson) is six years into his vengeance driven zeal as the Punisher when he brutally assaults a "beat the rap" party for notorious mob boss Gaitano Cesare. During the course of the massacre, he is alerted to the fact that Billy Russoti (Dominic West) has escaped to his recycling plant hideout by Detective Saffiotti (Tony Calabretta) who along with Detective Martin Soap (Dash Mihok) were staking out the party. Castle infiltrates Russoti's hideout and murders Nicky Donatelli as he is exiting the bathroom, the ensue gunshot alerted Russoti and a brief fire fight between him and Castle ensues ending in Russoti being thrown into a glass crushing machine which only ends up hideously disfiguring the overeager gangster. Another gun fight ensues between Frank and Russoti's men, Castle who has taken cover behind the body of Donatelli realizes that the man he killed was wearing a wire. As the police arrive Castle exits through the roof of the recycling plant.
Agent Paul Budiansky (Colin Salmon), the ex-partner of the undercover Fed, joins the NYPD's "Punisher Task Force" to help bring Castle to justice, once and for all.
A facially mutilated Russoti recovers from his run-in with the Punisher with revenge on his mind and recruits a massive army of psychotic killers, gangbangers, and mobsters under his new alias "Jigsaw."
Distraught that he has now become the very evil he swore to battle, Castle is content to hang up his guns and quit the justice business for good. However, plans quickly change once he learns that Jigsaw has kidnapped the surviving wife and child of the dead federal agent.
Forced back into the war, the Punisher now has to face off against Jigsaw's formidable army in order to save the lives of an innocent family his actions put on firing line
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