PWZ was basically one thing and one thing only, it was a mindless action flick. There is a market for those films, hell Hollywood is still making Transporter movies for god's sake. Punisher is a very easy character to bring to the big screen. Everyone knows it, even Hollywood and in my opinion there lies the problem. To them easy means, do whatever you want, make your improvements how you like, when you like, and toss it out to the masses without any style or care.
For all the crap Superman Returns got, as well as Ang Lee's Hulk you can't deny that those films were actually worked on with time and care as opposed to made to just be made. Sure Superman Returns has it's faults, but it has good/decent acting, an actual story, great set designs, and was made with care. Hulk had good/decent acting, alot of story, good action scenes, and good sets. Now, you could argue that those films had too much story and too much character development, and not enough wham & bam!
However, I would rather have a movie with people I care about what happens to and a story that draws me in, as opposed to a movie that I just wasted time & money on. Punisher was a film where Lions Gate went he's not spiderman, he's not captain america, he's just a man with guns. Lets get blood, alot of stereotyped villians, and rock music. There's no way in hell Iron Man can be done right the first time so easily as complex a character as he is, but little old Frank Castle can't catch a break. The only way a good punisher movie can get made is apparently to give the rights back to Marvel.
Let them make their own Punisher. Sure it won't be uber violent, but it'll be well casted, have a good script, and who knows maybe when another punisher movie comes after the Marvel studios version, it'll have the same actor for once playing Punisher, and it can be a different movie that's a continuation as opposed to a different movie that's an attempt to be the first one again.
