An undercover FBI agent becomes a vigilante and sets out to unleash his wrath upon the corrupt businessman who slaughtered his entire family at a reunion.
Special agent Frank Castle had it all: A loving family, a great life, and an adventurous job. But when his life is taken away from him by a ruthless criminal and his associates, Frank has become reborn. Now serving as judge, jury, and executioner, he's a new kind of vigilante out to wage a one man war against those who have done him wrong.—Mystic80
After a undercover operation where Bobby Saint, son of corrupt businessman Howard Saint, is killed. FBI agent Frank Castle retires. Howard Saint holding Castle responsible for the death of his son butchers Franks family during a family reunion and leaves Frank for dead. Burnt out and taunted by memories of his murdered family, Frank sets out to avenge his family, and he becomes a judge, jury and executioner known as "The Punisher", as Castle sets out to punish Howard Saint and his associates in a one man war, as Castle is not willing to give up until those responsible are dead and until he has his revenge.gggjjnhgfdfhh—Daniel Williamson
Frank Castle is a man who has seen too much death. On his final assignment, Castle plays his undercover role perfectly, but the operation spins out of control and a young man, Bobby Saint, is inadvertently killed. Inflamed by the death of their son, the Saints are willing to risk their newfound legitimacy on a wholesale mission of blood-vengeance. Castle's worst nightmare is about to come true, as Howard Saint and his lieutenants unleash hell at the Castle family reunion. But Castle, to his everlasting torment, survives. Until this moment, he has spent his entire life adhering strictly to the law. However, experience has taught him that the law cannot adequately penalize the people who murdered his family. Drawing upon all he has learned in twenty years, Castle sets in motion a plan to punish the murderers.—[email protected]
When Bobby Saint (James Carpinello) and Mickey Duka (Eddie Jemison) meet with European arms dealer Otto Krieg at the Tampa, Florida seaport, the FBI intervenes, and Saint is killed while Duka is jailed. Otto is also seemingly shot while trying to put up a fight."Krieg", supposedly killed in the shootout, is actually undercover FBI agent and former U.S. Army Delta Force operator Frank Castle (Thomas Jane) who was on his final mission before retirement. Shortly thereafter, he retires from the FBI and attends a family reunion at his father's ocean-side home in Aguadilla Bay, Puerto Rico. Castle plans to relocate to London with his family after the reunion as he believes London is safe.
Tampa crime boss Howard Saint (John Travolta) is enraged by the death of his son, and with right-hand man Quentin Glass (Will Patton) he bails out Mickey. Mickey is a small-time pot dealer and Bobby was his customer. Mickey pleads that when Bobby found out about the arms deal, he put up half the money and came to the meeting voluntarily. Mickey says that deal was originated by Otto, and he died in the shootout too. Mickey says that Bobby wanted to impress Howard by taking initiative.
Howard bribes corrupt federal law enforcement officers (specifically a debt-ridden close friend of Castle's named Jimmy Weeks (Russell Andrews)) for confidential information about "Krieg" and his federal service history.Once he finds out that "Krieg" is really Castle, Saint orders Castle murdered, and Saint's wife, Livia (Laura Harring), demands that Castle's entire family be killed as well to "settle the score".
At Castle's family reunion, gunmen including Glass and John Saint (James Carpinello), Bobby's identical twin, kill most of the extended family. Castle and his father Frank Castle, Sr. (Roy Scheider) kill several of the attackers before Castle's father is killed. Castle's wife Maria (Samantha Mathis) and son Will try to escape in a jeep, but Saint follows them and runs over them with a truck, killing them on a pier. Maria and will were trying to get into Castle's father's boat at the pier. Castle was late to arrive and could only hold their dead bodies.
Castle is shot in the chest by John and blown off a pier in an explosion set by Glass. Castle survives and is nursed back to health by a local fisherman, Candelaria. The police and FBI unwilling to pursue the killers due to Saint's power and influence.
Once recovered, Castle travels to Tampa and takes refuge in an old tenement where three young outcasts-Dave (Ben Foster), Bumpo (John Pinette) and Joan (Rebecca Romijn)-live. Castle abducts Mickey Duka, who fearfully gives up information about the Saints, but soon willingly becomes Castle's mole, given that he despises the Saints as much as Castle does (Howard had made Mickey into a parking valet to teach him a lesson). Castle studies the Saint family and learns their every move.
Castle starts exacting revenge on the police and FBI agents who have been bribed to close the investigation of his family's murder. In the process, he sabotages Saint's money-laundering business and severs Saint's partnership with Cuban mobsters the Toro Brothers, and starts tailing Livia and Glass, whom he learns is a closeted homosexual.
Saint, realizing Castle is alive, sends two assassins to kill him. Castle kills the first, guitar player Harry Heck (Mark Collie), by shooting a ballistic knife into Heck's throat. The second is "the Russian" (Kevin Nash), a behemoth who beats Castle in a brutal fight but is defeated when Castle throws boiling oil in his face, blinding him long enough for Castle to throw him down a staircase, breaking his neck.
Moments later, Saint's men arrive, led by Glass and John Saint. Dave, Joan and Bumpo hide Frank and refuse to tell Glass where he is, despite Glass pulling out Dave's multiple facial piercings with a pair of pliers. They leave a man behind to kill Castle upon his return, but Castle kills him once Glass and the others are gone. Dave is taken to the hospital, and Castle makes preparations to finish the fight against Saint, despite Joan's attempts to persuade Castle not to.
With assistance from Mickey, Castle manipulates Saint into believing Glass and Livia are having an affair. With Mickey's help, Castle poses as an anonymous blackmailer and arranges for Glass to be at certain places while planting Livia's car in the same location and ultimately placing one of Livia's earrings in Glass's bed.Saint, unaware Glass is gay and believing Livia to be capable of cheating on him, stabs Glass to death. Despite her protest that Glass was gay, Saint accuses Livia of having an affair with his best friend and throws Livia off an overpass onto a railroad track, where she is run over by a train.
In desperation, Saint provides each of his henchmen with $50,000, and offers $50,000 more to whoever manages to find and kill Castle.
Castle, however, attacks Saint's headquarters, the downtown Tampa nightclub Saints and Sinners, killing many of Saint's henchmen. He also kills John Saint, who is trapped under collapsed debris, by having him hold an eight-pound, trip-wire activated grenade in his fully extended arm until his arm wearies and the grenade explodes. Castle wounds Howard Saint with a pistol when Saint attempts to shoot him in the parking lot of the nightclub. Castle then ties Saint to a slow-moving car, but not before revealing that Glass and Livia were not having an affair. Several hidden bombs go off, killing Saint in the process; the destruction and wreckage culminate in the shape of the Punisher's iconic skull.
Later that night, Castle returns to his apartment and prepares to commit suicide, but after a brief vision of his wife, decides to continue his vigilante mission against others who in his mind deserve punishment. Before departing on his next mission, he leaves most of Saint's money for Bumpo, Joan and Dave. On the Sunshine Skyway Bridge, he vows, "Those who do evil to others-the killers, the sexual predators, psychos, sadists-will come to know me well. Frank Castle is dead. Call me... the Punisher."
