Tue Aug 19, 2008 — by Rick Marshall

"Punisher: War Zone" Buzz: Ratings and More...

More carnage behind the camera than in front of it?

It seems as if there's as much chaos going on behind the scenes of the upcoming Punisher: War Zone film as a typical Frank Castle firefight these days. Earlier this year, various sites reported that the Lionsgate Studios project had its release date pushed back to December, but now that change appears to be just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to problems with the highly anticipated film.

Over on the website for the film's director, Lexi Alexander, all references to Punisher have been deleted -- including her praise for the ultra-violent "red band" trailer release that we linked to back in June. Beyond that, the Latino Review recently reported that the studio is pushing for a PG-13 rating for the film due to the success of the The Dark Knight, igniting a massive backlash among fans of the character, the trailer and, well... just about everything related to the project. Luckily, that rumor was later semi-squashed in a follow-up report on Latino Review.

Meanwhile, Heidi MacDonald points us to even more rumor-mill chatter about the film, its potential rating and whether Alexander still has a role in it.

So what's the real story? No one really seems to know anymore -- but everyone seems to have a source "close to the project" with an opinion.

Heck, my source tells me that they might scrap the project entirely and bring back Dolph Lundgren to play the character. After all, he did tell one of the villains in the 1989 Punisher film, "I'm Batman." Coincidence... or a return to the character almost a decade in the making?

Oh, and if you have a chance, be sure to check out the "Punisher vs. Punisher" video I came across on YouTube, comparing the 1989 and 2004 films.

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