The Punisher is the 2004 feature film adaptation of the Marvel Comics comic book series. Thomas Jane stars as Frank Castle, a former Special Forces operator and FBI agent whose his entire family is massacred by gunmen employed by Howard Saint, a Floria crime lord and money launderer. Castle soon returns to seek vengeance on Saint and his followers. An extended cut of the film was released on video in 2005. This was the second of three different feature film adaptations featuring the Frank Castle character including 1989's The Punisher and 2008's Punisher: War Zone.
Visit the Discussion section for the Bladed Weapons and Vehicles used in the film.
The following weapons were used in the film The Punisher:
Frank Castle (Thomas Jane) uses a pair of heavily customized M1911A1s as his main sidearms in the film. His father Frank Castle Sr. (Roy Scheider) devoted some dialogue to the guns, commenting on how he bored the chambers, customized the triggers, and added some thread-on compensators. Some other notable features are their Novak night sights, the Smith and Alexander extended magazine wells, combat hammers and combat triggers, Kings Gun Works extended slide stops and extended slide releases, as well as Ed Brown Memory Grove beavertail grip safeties and front cocking serrations. The leg holster is a custom Blade-Tech Tactical Thigh Holster.
An E-mail from the current owner of the guns explains:
"The pistols are 1911's and the slide is marked COLT'S GOVERNMENT MODEL. The sight attached to the slide is marked NOVAK'S upside down. The slide is the same shape as a normal 1911's but on the sides towards the left and right there is a grid design."
Howard Saint (John Travolta) is seen using a Beretta 92FS Inox "Flash-paper" gun, which is designed to imitate the flash and smoke of a blank gun minus the loud sound and dangerous wad which fires from the barrel. Instead of swapping to a real Beretta, it appears to stay a flash-paper gun throughout the film, and as such is listed separately from the real Inoxes used.
The stainless steel Beretta 92FS Inox makes several appearances in the film in the hands of nameless thugs employed by the Saint family. The most notable user is Dante (Marc Macaulay), who tries to draw it when facing Castle along with Spoon (Terry Loughlin) at his side in the lobby of the Saint building.
When the FBI raids the weapons transfer, Otto Kreig (Frank Castle under-cover) draws a two-tone Colt Officer's ACP which appears to be customized, before being "killed".
The Glock 17 2nd generation is seen multiple times in the film by nameless thugs but is most notably seen used by Jimmy Weeks (A. Russell Andrews), who they delve deeper into character-wise in the extended cut.
One of the weapons seen in Castle's arsenal is a 3rd Generation Glock 17 with stainless slide. Sadly, he is never seen using it despite being seen preparing it before leaving to assault Saint's club.
One of the thugs in Saint's dance club is seen using a compact Glock 19 2nd generation, which based on the angle appears too short to be the same Glock 17 used in other scenes.
Spoon (Terry Loughlin) is seen with a Heckler & Koch USP handgun in his holster when facing Castle in the Saint building. Based on the length of the grip, it looks the the .45 ACP model, the USP45.
Seen fitted with a suppressor in Castle's arsenal is a Heckler & Koch MK23 Mod 0. Reportedly, one of Saint's thugs that walks into Castle's apartment is armed with the same prop, although it is never seen closely.
John Saint (James Carpinello) uses a nickel-plated SIG-Sauer P226 throughout the film. He most notably uses it when he puts a bullet in Castle's chest, claiming "This time they're not blanks."
When Castle is "safe-guarding" his apartment, he places a stainless steel Smith & Wesson Model 66 into a custom made drawer launcher, which kicks out the drawer when the counter is tapped. Castle tries to grab this gun when he is attacked by "The Russian" (Kevin Nash), but he grabs a weight and smashes the barrel flat.
The weapon crushed by Kevin Nash in the movie was a real S&W Model 66 that was actually destroyed just for the film.
Harry Heck ditches his Striker when Castle totals his GTO and gets out, armed with a Taurus Model 689. Castle pulls out a spring loaded stiletto (basically an amateur ballistics knife) and fires it into his neck before he can use it. Castle than takes the gun and leaves in Heck's Satellite.
Castle is seen in the extended cut giving Jimmy Weeks (A. Russell Andrews) a Smith & Wesson Model 627. Weeks takes the gun and tries to kill Castle, but the gun is empty. Castle gives Weeks a single bullet and watches as he commits suicide for ratting him out to Saint and having his family killed because of it.
One of the arms dealers is armed with a Cobray M11/9 when the FBI raids the exchange. Bobby Saint points his gun at him by mistake and is shot by him in return.
Some of the FBI agents that make the illegal weapons sale bust are armed with Heckler & Koch MP5A5 submachine guns. One of the thugs in the club is also seen with one.
Some of the hitters who help massacre Castle's family are armed with TEC-9s, which clearly have sling swivels (although these shots don't show them), which a TEC-DC9 lacks. They were likely converted to full-auto by the armorer for the film.
Several thugs in the film are seen armed with Steyr SPP pistols, which appear to be converted to full-auto based on the one instance it is seen firing.
Several of Micro Uzis are seen used by Saint's men when they massacre Castle's family. Most notably seen using them are Dante (Marc Macaulay) and Spoon (Terry Loughlin) when they both fire their Micros at Maria Castle's (Samantha Mathis) car, and manage to flip it with them.
Harry Heck (Mark Collie) is seen using what looks like an Armsel Protecta to fire shots at Castle's Pontiac GTO, but he luckily has metal shields that slide up over the windows to protect himself.
Lincoln (Tom Nowicki) uses an Ithaca 37 shotgun with nickel plating and a pistol grip throughout the film. It is not a Stakeout model, as it is too long. When using it to shoot Castle's vest in the dance club, he puts two 12 gauge rounds into his body armor from less than 10ft away. Though this might seem impossible, a level IIIA Vest can easily withstand shots as powerful as 00 Buckshot.
When Saint's men massacre Castle's family, one of the assassins is armed with a sawed-off Ted Williams Model 21 Field shotgun with a cut down Ribbed barrel and stock. Castle picks up the same Ted Williams and tries to save his wife and son. Castle fires off four shots, which pattern like buckshot rounds, before running dry.
Trivia: When Castle first begins firing, he racks the shotgun, ejecting a live round from the chamber, which would have greatly helped him out when he faces the men as they exit the truck.
Mossberg 590 "Compact Cruiser"
When Castle goes to the Saint Building to dump all his money into the street, he takes a Mossberg 590 Compact Cruiser, which is the perfect gun to stash in his trench coat. He uses the gun to force Saint's money launderers to dump the money from the top floor and "rain 100 dollar bills."
When the hitters begin to massacre Castle's family, Castle Sr. takes out two Savage/Stevens 311As for himself and Frank. The two both uses them to great effect and Castle scores two kills with his, one of which by means of blowing up a propane tank on a grill. They are smooth-bore shotguns because they are clearly seen loading birdshot shotgun rounds into them. Based on slight difference in the trigger guard and pistol grip/tang area, these appear to be Spanish Eibar copies.
Castle appears to saw down one of his 311As later in the film, and turns it into a sawed-off shotgun. Castle brings this gun with him when he raids Saint's club, holstered on his back, and manages to kill one of his thugs with it.
When Bobby Saint (James Carpinello) tries to impress his father by buying guns, he meets with Otto Kreig (Frank Castle under-cover), who shows Bobby four suitcases loaded with Heckler & Koch G36C assault rifles. I didn't bother adding all four suitcases because it looks like they just reused the same shot four times and flipped it twice.
FBI agents making the illegal weapons bust at the beginning of the film are armed with M4A1 Carbines. Frank Castle is later seen using one fitted with an M203 grenade launcher and an Aimpoint CompM2 red dot sight when assaulting Howard Saint's club Saints and Sinners. He loses use of this weapon when a bad guy's bullet hits the receiver and ruins the gun.
Seen next to the M203 launcher in Castle's arsenal is what appear to be an early model standalone RM Equipment M203PI grenade launcher. Only the rear of the launcher is clearly visible, but the retractable stock which conforms to the rear of the pistol grip identifies this as an early M203PI standalone launcher.
Error creating thumbnail: File missingRM Equipment M203PI with standalone "Universal" stock in pistol configuration - 40x46mm. This is the current production model.Error creating thumbnail: File missingSchematic of the early model of the standalone version of the M203PI which differs from current production models by having a sliding stock and ventilated sighting rib, and lacking a MIL-STD-1913 rail.Error creating thumbnail: File missingThe M203PI to the right, under the M4.
M18A1 Claymore
Castle has an M18A1 Claymore anti-personal mine among his arsenal, and uses one with a beeper detonator to blow up one of Saint's money transporting boats.
Among the weapons in his arsenal, Castle has a handful of M67 hand grenades, one of which he keeps attached under the sink in his bathroom. He also keeps a switch near by which shuts the door so he can throw the grenade out and shut the door to protect himself from the blast. This technique proves ineffective when he tries it on The Russian, who uses a pipe like a baseball bat and whacks the "baseball" right back into the bathroom. Castle just barely makes it into the bathtub to avoid the blast.
Castle's M4A1 is seen fitted with an M203 grenade launcher, which do to such close proximity battles is never used during the shootout in the club. The original movie poster also prominently features Castle holding an M16A2 fitted with an M203.
Castle brings some Anti-Personnel (AP) mines with him to assault the dance club. One he plants on the main entrance, which is set off when someone tries to run out. The second mine he sends up the dumb-waiter hidden in a wine bucket. When the man goes to pull the wine out, the whole rooms blows up. The last mine he uses to leave John Saint at the mercy of his own willpower. He claims the AP mine weighs 8lbs, which isn't much, but then he outstretches his arm and ties the fuse to a hanging piece of insulation. He then says how holding that mine up with an outstretched arm would be a "hell of a work out." The mine appears to be made from a PX-available soap dish, some wire, and a blinking light, controlled by a 555IC timer chip. No Current US Mine is in this shape (it is ineffective, ballistics-wise; the fragmentation pattern would only cover a limited area.), or in this style- No U.S. issue mine has a blinking red light, which would give away it's position.
Castle brings an unfathomable number of Remote Detonation mines with him, which he plants on all the cars in the parking lot. When he sets them all off, a sky view reveals "The Punisher" skull drawn with flame.
Again, it appears a soap dish with double-sided adhesive tape was used, it is possible for a charge like this to be contained in a soap dish.
A mixture of plastic explosives, oil, and thermite powders of appropriate size would fit in this size container with a cell-phone activated detonator.
All of which could easily be programmed to fire on the same signal.
An extra on the extended cut is an animated segment built to illustrate the deleted scene of Frank Castle serving in the Gulf War, during a battle in Kuwait. The following guns are seen in this segment.
Behind the scenes note: The weapons used in the flashback animated sequence were a mix of airsoft, metal replica, and a few real guns. The soldiers shot on green screen were airsofters, not actors, and not real military.
Pistols
Beretta M9
A Beretta M9 is seen used by the U.S. officer to attempt to kill the captured enemy soldiers but he is stopped by Castle.
Seen in the hands of a U.S. officer is a Beretta 92G Elite II. He is seen loading it up and then it disappears, being replaced by a simpler M9. The 92G Elite II was not issued during the Gulf War nor was it even made yet so that's somewhat of an anachronism.
This is a Airsoft gun its a Tokyo Mauri Tac Master --Sarkardarkstar 18:47, 1 October 2009 (UTC)
An enemy soldier is seen firing an Norinco Type 69 RPG with an over-sized warhead. It can be most easily identified by its single grip and carry handle as opposed to the dual grips on an RPG-7.
A U.S. soldier is seen with a M26 "Lemon" hand grenade on his belt, which the enemy prisoner pulls off his belt and commits suicide with, killing everyone but Castle and Weeks.
