Thomas Jane Does His DIRTY LAUNDRY In Punisher Short

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The five-ring, major studio publicity circus that is the San Diego Comic-Con has pulled up stakes and left town.  With all the bright lights and beautiful people, all the hype machines and publicity mavens, a lot of projects flew under the radar, as will happen.  One of the biggest of these “lost” projects is the Punisher fan-film produced by none other than Thomas Jane.  It’s called “Dirty Laundry” and had its first screening at SDCC this year, at the panel for Jane’s own production company RAW Studios.  Give it an eyeball right here:

Y’know, that Thomas Jane is all right with me.

The 2004 film version of The Punisher starring Thomas Jane was an unmitigated piece of shit.  I don’t say that as a devout fan of the character and the Marvel comics he appears in, but as a person who likes movies.  All the superficial changes from the comic the film employed were of minor concern compared to John Travolta shoving scenery into his mouth with both hands and the overly dramatic slaughter of not just Frank Castle’s wife and kids, but his entire extended family.  The whole movie lands on your face with both feet, and with a character like the Punisher, who is already over the tops as is, some restraint is truly necessary to keep from the whole enterprise turning into an Itchy & Scratchy cartoon.

The only restraint shown in this regard was from the film’s lead, Thomas Jane.  And Jane took that restraint and turned it into a much shorter, much better version of that.  “Dirty Laundry” is exactly what 2004′s The Punisher should have been.  Personally, the reluctance that Frank shows in this short to get involved conflicts with my understanding of the character, but I understand how it’s meant to add suspense.  And then once that anticipation is met, once Frank gets to work, man, it’s totally worth the wait.  I’ll go on record and say that this is easily the best film version of The Punisher yet, and if Marvel doesn’t give Jane another crack at the character his way, they’re even crazier than when they let Jennifer Garner play Elektra.

On top of that, Jane strikes me as a guy who simply loves doing what he’s doing.  I think at this point in his career, he could easily have made the transition into being just another Hollywood pretty-boy.  But instead of sitting by the pool and waiting for his agent to call, he gets off his ass and works.  I’ve seen him at SDCC a few times, down on the floor, shilling his own stuff, like the comic book Bad Planet that he wrote with Steve Niles.  And now this short film, which might not be perfect, but which is very good, the action sequences in particular.  And you got Ron Perlman as a disgruntled vet and it’s directed by the guy who directed Three O’Clock High, so, I mean, you got no complaints.

All in all, Thomas Jane is a guy who knows which way the wind is blowing.  He knows that DIY is the route to go in this information age, what with your Kickstarters and your YouTubes.  If he wants a Punisher film done right, he’s just going to do it himself, and even if this short had turned out as bad as the last time he donned the skull logo, I’d still take my hat off to him just for the effort.  We need more Thomas Janes in the film industry, and from the looks of it, we’re going to get them.

Welcome back, Tom.