Review: Avengers Confidential Punisher and Black Widow
I won’t get too wrapped up in spoilers, but there will be some spoilery things in my review, so if you just want my rating, skip down to the last paragraph now. Unlike MOST of Marvel’s animation, this one looked and felt great. I’m a huge Punisher fan, and enjoy the way that he was brought into this and represented. That being said, I’d still like a solo Punisher animation that really does him justice.
Animation breakdown – The animation in this was outstanding. The Japanese style art flowed well and although the characters had certain characteristics that felt different from the traditional versions we are used to, everything worked. One flaw I did find was that in the beginning of the movie, the Punisher broke a man’s arm and hand violently… Two scenes later, that man’s arm was in a sling, only it was the OPPOSITE arm that had been broken. I don’t know if the frames got reversed or what, but this was an amateur mistake that was very noticeable. There were also a few scenes where Black Widow’s breasts looked extremely large and not fitting with her look in other scenes, but that was brief.
Voice acting – I’ll just say that I was convinced that these were real character voices. Excellent job by the cast and voice direction.
Plot – The story was original. It was refreshing and really showed the turmoil that goes through Frank Castle’s (and even Black Widow’s) minds. They are a perfect team up because their pasts are so hazy on the “right side of the law”. My big problem?… The campiness in parts. The hacker kid working for SHIELD was stupid. I didn’t buy it, and it was unnecessary and annoying. As for the Avengers showing up, that annoyed me too. It felt forced. Sure, there was a need for them at that point, but it seemed more like a SHIELD operation than an avengers gig, and yet there they were. Oh, and the kid was dangling from Hulk’s back too like a school bag. dumb. I also felt that the villains were forced as well, but on a good note at least they forced both sides and it balanced out. They also didn’t overshadow what Punisher and Black Widow were doing either. They both got to take down the main threat. Just when I was getting irritated at Natasha telling Frank not to kill anyone, he did deliver the final blow in tradition Castle style.
Music and sound – meh. I’m neither happy nor upset. It seemed like a metal techno soundtrack, but it worked.
Overall rating… This is perhaps one of the BETTER Marvel animations yet, despite its flaws. If you don’t like the two main characters though, you won’t like this movie. I’d like to see if they continue on with it from here and do more Avengers confidentials or a follow up Punisher animation. Call me satisfied, with some complaints. 6 out of 10 sCrypt coffins get awarded to this one. What are your thoughts?
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