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Section Header
The Punisher
(2004)
Composed, Orchestrated, Conducted, and Co-Produced by:
Carlo Siliotto

Co-Produced by:
Michael Gerhard

Performed by:
The Bulgarian Symphony Orchestra

Label:
La-La Land Records

Release Date:
June 15th, 2004

Also See:
The Shadow
The Phantom
Spiderman

Audio Clips:
2. Otto Krieg (0:30), 150K punisher2.ra

9. God's Gonna Sit This One Out (0:29), 146K punisher9.ra

26. The Skull (0:33), 166K punisher26.ra

28. Call Me "The Punisher" (0:30), 150K punisher28.ra

Availability:
Regular U.S. release.

Awards:
  None.









The Punisher

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Buy it... if you wish for a simple, but refreshingly new approach to a heroic tragedy with a full and diverse orchestral ensemble.

Avoid it... if you've heard just a few too many superhero themes already for your liking, and aren't interested in yet another variation on the cliche.



Siliotto
The Punisher: (Carlo Siliotto) First appearing as an auxiliary character in a Spiderman comic in 1974, Frank Castle would eventually gain his own comic series (and international fame) in the mid-1980's. His story being one of emotional torment, Castle is a former decorated Marine who abandons his service when his family is gunned down in cold blood, becoming "The Punisher" as an expert, freelance crime fighter. For the film, some of the facts of the original comic have been twisted to suit a more modern age, but the table is still set for Castle to become his own superhero of sorts and, in this case, take down the wealthy, criminal Florida family which wrongly killed his own. The most important aspect of the Castle character remains intact: his ability to fight as a superhero without any supernatural superhero powers. He relies simply on good hand to hand combat tactics and a mastery of weaponry in order to seek his revenge. Conversely, on the far other end of the spectrum of humanity is Italian composer Carlo Siliotto, a man in his mid-50's who, as he states, spends most of his time sitting at a piano composing music. It would be the mere luck of the phenomenon known as 'the distinctive demo tape' that would land Siliotto for the 2004 film adaptation of the comic, The Punisher. Writer and director Jonathan Hensleigh (in his directorial debut after writing screenplays for several major summer action hits) claims that of all the demo tapes received for The Punisher, Siliotto's demo --an excerpt of a theme from his 1992 score for Flight of the Innocent-- was not only different from all the others, but seemed to capture the tragic, but equally heroic spirit of the title character.

Siliotto, originally an arranger of popular Mediterranean songs, wrote dozens of scores for mostly European films in the 1990's and 2000's, but The Punisher is his first venture into the large stage of mainstream American cinema in a while. Reading about his enthusiasm for the film, it is easy to get the impression that Siliotto was excited by this opportunity and therefore put considerable effort into creating a musical identity for Frank Castle. By no means did Siliotto create a masterpiece of complexity for The Punisher, but in the simplicity of the score's construction comes a refreshing sense of good and evil defined in clear tones of black and white. The hero's theme is an amalgamation of major and minor key ideas from every genre cliche and other hero theme that we have heard before. Its performances are often focused solely on the primary theme, without regard for counterpoint, depth of instrumentation, or even layering of its own instrumentation. The solo trumpet for the war veteran, mirrored by a flute for a sense of innocence, yields to a string interlude that sounds cookie cutter in creation. And yet, it's the kind of simplicity of focus that a man like Castle perhaps needs, and the theme --no matter your regards for its rather sparse layering and depth-- will be floating around in your head for no less than a week after your first listen of that theme in film or on album.

What Siliotto has done with The Punisher is create an environment in which the cliches of the superhero genre flourish in their own excess, nurtured by their assembly from the point of view of a Hollywood outsider and his sense of care in preserving the strictly orchestral nature of the entire package. For instance, if you take a cue such as "Castle's Loneliness" (misspelled on the score album packaging), you hear the rolling sounds of lower woodwinds a la Danny Elfman and the broad strokes of brass whole notes in a supporting role a la Basil Poledouris, and, in the subsequent "Call Me 'The Punisher'" cue, you hear a cello lament lost romance in a fashion typical of a Rome street corner story of love long gone. These defining moments throughout the score are what give Siliotto's music for The Punisher such grip for its surprisingly simplistic substance. A sense of propulsive rhythm does not escape Siliotto, greeting us with marching drums in "Otto Krieg" (along with the usual solo female vocal that seems mandatory these days), determined string, piano and guitar rhythms in "Setting a Trap" and "Joan's Suffering," and one outstanding finale performance of the title theme in "The Skull." A female vocal and pipe organ announce the start of battle with grand style in "God's Gonna Sit This One Out." A toll of a bell and distant wail of an electric guitar signal the entry into an enemy lair with adequate cool suspense.

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The most surprising aspect of The Punisher is its overall pleasant demeanor, with the soft piano theme for Castle's family (and general softer side) appearing several times throughout the score during contemplative moments. A hint of Italian romance prevails in The Punisher... a strange, but strikingly effective approach to the tragedy of the film. Even the "Massacre" scene is scored less with horror and more with dramatic agony. Entire five-minute sections of the score can pass you by with the elegance of Siliotto's piano writing, and you can then pass into a cue of stealth and killing without the inconvenience of a jarring interruption by brass or percussion. On the whole, the score doesn't overwhelm you with its power or complexity upon first listen, but its strong character more than compensates for the lack of orchestral depth to some of the main thematic performances. Hearing parts of this material performed with greater intensity and a larger ensemble could place it in historically rare territory. On album, the lacking moments are campy at the worst and addictive at best, and the greatest strength of The Punisher is the loyalty that Siliotto has shown to the cause of orchestral action scores. With the film originally featuring a re-write of the original story and a song album upon its release, general expectations about the underscore were bleak. But Siliotto's effort is highly commendable, and his hour of material on the subsequent score album is easily listenable in its entirety and highly enjoyable in individual cues. A mild rock song and the inclusion of the opera piece "La Donna E' Mobile" from "Rigoletto" round out the album. Without a doubt, the score for The Punisher will send many fans in search of other Carlo Siliotto works. ****




 Viewer Ratings and Comments:  


Regular Average: 3.86 Stars
Smart Average: 3.65 Stars*
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   Re: HELP
  colin -- 10/19/05 (8:31 p.m.)
   Re: The (original) Punisher
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   HELP
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   Re: Main theme
  NX-28379 -- 7/17/04 (11:34 a.m.)
   Back to the good old days
  Fernando Giménez Moren... -- 7/7/04 (8:48 a.m.)
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 Track Listings: Total Time: 67:41


• 1. The Punisher (0:56)
• 2. Otto Krieg (3:14)
• 3. Unusual Resurrection (1:40)
• 4. Moving (3:09)
• 5. I Can't Believe I'm Home (1:23)
• 6. His Whole Family (1:27)
• 7. The Massacre (5:45)
• 8. Death and Resurrection of Frank Castle (1:47)
• 9. God's Gonna Sit This One Out (3:57)
• 10. Ice Lolly and Meat (1:28)
• 11. You're Gonna Help Me (1:24)
• 12. Entering the Fort (1:58)
• 13. About Your Family/Setting a Trap (3:11)
• 14. A Bomb for John Saint (1:08)
• 15. Good Memories Can Save Your Life (1:13)
• 16. The Thugs (1:30)
• 17. The Torture (3:12)
• 18. Elevator and Headache (1:07)
• 19. A New Family/Joan's Suffering (3:34)
• 20. Quenton's Glass Home (1:32)
• 21. Killing a Best Friend (1:43)
• 22. You Don't Understand... End of a Dark Lady (2:34)
• 23. She Took the Train/Punishment (1:47)
• 24. The Arrow (1:48)
• 25. Both of Them (1:32)
• 26. The Skull (2:34)
• 27. Castle's Loneliness (1:35)
• 28. Call Me "The Punisher" (2:23)
• 29. Jealous One - song performed by J.C. Loader (3:52)
• 30. La Donna E' Mobile from 'Rigoletto' - song performed by Peter Dvorsky (2:06)




 Notes and Quotes:  


The insert includes detailed information about the score or film, including notes from the composer and director. The album incorrectly lists total time as 65:37 (seemingly omitting the opera song at the end in the total).





   
  All artwork and sound clips from The Punisher are Copyright © 2004, La-La Land Records. The reviews and other textual content contained on the filmtracks.com site may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of Filmtracks Publications. Audio clips can be heard using RealPlayer but cannot be redistributed without the label's expressed written consent. Page created 7/3/04 (and not updated significantly since). Review Version 5.0 (PHP). Copyright © 2004-2009, Christian Clemmensen (Filmtracks Publications). All rights reserved.