Awesome / The Punisher (2004)

• The dying Frank Castle Sr. knifes a Giant Mook In the Back to save his son before finally going down.
• Frank robs Saint's main bank to stir up trouble between Saint and the Toro brothers. The money launderers he has at gunpoint try to threaten him — only Frank has no fear of their threats, so he makes them pour the remaining money out of the window and onto the street.
  Launderer #1: Do you know whose money this is, do you know whose building this is?
  Frank: Howard Saint.
  Launderer #2: He's gonna fuck your life up!
  Frank: He's already fucked my life up.
• Frank stepping in when Joan's ex-boyfriend, initially set on Joan, starts harassing Dave after the latter threatens to call the cops. Said-ex pulls out a butterfly knife and goes all swingy showy with it in an effort to intimidate Frank, who easily disarms him, says "You shouldn't play with knives", then bonks the ex in the forehead before sending him off, staggering. Not once does Frank lose his calm throughout this scene.
• Harry Heck introduces himself by walking into a diner while Frank is eating breakfast, sets out a guitar case as if to pull a weapon, and produces a guitar, which he uses to play a song about the inevitability of death, as a warning to Frank that he's going to kill him, then packs up his guitar and leaves so Frank can finish his meal. It's about as awesome as a Big-Lipped Alligator Moment could possibly be.
• Harry Heck calls Frank "a dumb son of a bitch" for bringing a knife to a gunfight. Turns out Frank brought a ballistic knife.
• Frank's fight with The Russian borders on CMOF given its over-the-top nature, but it is one of the few times Frank lands in serious trouble and barely survives it.
  • The crew forgot to switch out fake knives the day of the shoot, too, so when Frank stabs The Russian in the shoulder? Yeah, that's Kevin Nash taking a real switchblade to his collarbone. And he didn't even flinch. Just grinned like he was supposed to, and kept on going with the scripted fight. Including slowly pulling it back out..
• Dave gets one when he refuses to tell Saint's goons where Frank is, despite said goons forcibly ripping out Dave's facial piercings with a pair of pliers. He doesn't take it like a badass, either — the poor kid is wailing and crying in agony the whole time. Yet neither Dave nor Bumpo, who was Forced to Watch, say anything. Frank rescues them later on, then asks Dave why he went through that hell to protect Frank. Dave's answer?
  "Because you're one of us... You're family."
• Frank writes out his manifesto towards the end of the movie, accepting his fate before he goes to kill Howard Saint:
  I leave this as a declaration of intent, so no one will be confused.
  One: "Si vis pacem, para bellum." Latin; boot camp sergeant made us recite it like a prayer. Si vis pacem, para bellum: "If you want peace, prepare for war."
  Two: Frank Castle is dead. He died with his family.
  Three: In certain extreme situations, the law is inadequate. In order to shame its inadequacy, it is necessary to act outside the law. To pursue... natural justice. This is not vengeance. Revenge is not a valid motive; it's an emotional response. No, not vengeance — punishment.
• Frank's entire plan for payback against Howard Saint, the man who ordered the execution of the Castle family, sure as hell qualifies. Frank costs Saint money by tossing laundered money into the streets from a high-rise and angering Saint's business partners via sabotage of drug deliveries. He sets up Saint's bodyguard and best friend, Quentin, by making it appear as if Quentin is having an affair with Saint's wife, Livia—all with the help of one of Saint's low-level mooks. Saint kills both Quentin and Livia—even though the latter tells her husband that Quentin is gay and there is no affair. After Saint kills Livia, he calls his son John and a group of his closest associates to his nightclub. Frank picks off each one, leaving Saint's son for last (John receives a "punishment" that is particularly amusing in its own right.) Saint tries to flee on foot, but gets hit in the gut by a single shot from Frank — who then shows Saint the evidence of his setup.
  Frank: [tosses pictures of Quentin kissing another man] I made you kill your best friend. [tosses one of Livia's earrings] I made you kill your wife. And now I've killed you.
  • After the big reveal, Saint can do nothing but utter a sad groan. When Frank says he has killed Saint, that moan sells the moment. Howard Saint might not have been physically dead at the moment, but Frank sure as hell broke him to the point where he might as well be.
  • And after that, he sends Saint to a fiery death by chaining him to a car which is soon blown up, along with a large number of other cars in the same parking lot, via remote explosives. From the air, the resultant blaze looks like a giant flaming skull.
• Although it is also a Tearjerker, with Frank Castle's hope of a peaceful life ending, the final scene, with Frank wearing the iconic skull shirt and at last declaring himself The Punisher, officially beginning his one man war on crime more than counts. You can practically hear every criminal in the world collectively shit themselves.