A sequel to a lousy 2004 movie notable only for the bizarre sight of John Travolta, as the film’s bad guy, acting as if he was in a film adapted from Shakespeare instead of Marvel Comics, Punisher: War Zone is so godawful that it makes you wish Joe Bob Briggs was still reviewing movies.

In the ongoing crusade began when a Mafia boss exterminated his family, former government agent Frank Castle stalks the streets of Montreal-pretending-to-be-Manhattan looking for bad guys to kill, as painfully and viciously as possible. His favorite targets are other mobsters, portrayed here in such subpar Goodfellas/Sopranos stereotypes as to motivate whole new chapters of the Italian-American Anti Defamation League. Of course, the cops were cast from the same talent pool, including the one who explains the Punisher’s raison d’etre by sputtering, “He duz ta dose bastids what you ’n’ me only fantasize about.” (There’s no end of Ed Woodian dialogue here, but my favorite was the assessment of an FBI agent who sneers at New York’s Finest as “Krispy Kreme mutherfuckers.”) There’s almost no plot to get in the way of the nonstop carnage, which would be depressing were it not so ridiculously gruesome. (If I thought the human skull was no more resistant than it is shown to be here, I would wear a motorcycle helmet 24/7.) The director is Lexi Alexander, whose biography notes that she is a “former World Karate and Kickboxing Champion,” talents which this film does nothing to disprove. Our “hero” is played by Ray Stevenson, an actor with all the charisma of a boiled potato. His nemesis, a hideously scarred sadist nicknamed “Jigsaw” (any similarities to the Joker are strictly impossible to ignore) is overacted by Dominic West. The only performer in the entire film that I recognized was Seinfeld’s Wayne Knight, whom I can hardly believe will function as much of an audience draw. As subtle as pro wrestling but not nearly as well written, Punisher: War Zone is designed for audiences at a loss for entertainment since they mastered Grand Theft Auto IV.

—m. faust