Avengers Confidential: Black Widow & Punisher

I'm probably not the best suited person to analyze this movie as I am not the most knowledgeable of neither anime nor comic books. I like anime, and enjoy comic book films and television series, but I'm not a hardcore fan. Comic book fans go into movies already knowing the characters for the most part, whereas for me it's like I'm introduced to each character for the first time. In a way that makes me more objective as I don't know what characters are supposed to be like, and simply watch the movie for what it is. At any rate, I watched this movie and here are my thoughts.

I know anime fans have a debate on "dub" vs "sub"—that is whether they prefer anime movies dubbed into English or with English subtitles. While I normally prefer subtitles to maintain the authenticity of the work, in this movie's case, it is more like this is the English version of the movie than simply a dubbing.

As indicated by the title, this movie focuses on the character The Punisher. Even having seen "The Punisher" (2004), my memory of this guy is vague. He is a vigilante character, who is neither good nor bad, who does whatever it takes to protect the innocent regardless of whether his actions are with in the laws or not. He is arrested by the international organization S.H.I.E.L.D. and they plea bargain with him. An evil crime organization, Leviathan, has stolen weapons and plans to auction them off. The Punisher is sent on a mission with Black Widow to stop the sale of these weapons.

While the artwork was vivid, the animation was minimal—I suppose to keep the feel of reading a comic book. There was not a whole lot of movement in the animation, even in action sequences, and still shots of characters' faces or long pans of people or scenery was common.

Overall, the film is formulaic of any episode of a super hero animated television series. The bad guys have an evil scheme and the good guys have to stop it. That's not a bad thing, it's just what it is, and I happened to like that.