Julie Benz

Not only does Julie Benz play yin to a serial killer’s yang in the hit TV show Dexter, but she also starred opposite the most macho of manly men earlier this year in Rambo. Now the soft-spoken actress is playing accomplice to yet another rugged he-man in Punisher: War Zone — hitting theatres next Friday.

“I seem to be getting vigilante themes surrounding me in my work,” says Benz over the phone from New York recently. “It’s because I’m so light in real life.”

She may be joking but there isn’t much to laugh about in Punisher: War Zone. Although it’s the third cinematic adaptation of the vengeance-filled Marvel Comics character, Benz insists this is not a sequel — “It’s just a very gritty urban retelling of the Punisher tale,” she says.

“This is not just an action film, this is a film about a man whose family was completely annihilated,” says Benz of the Punisher’s origin. “He takes on vigilante justice and is still struggling with the loss of his family so there’s real heart to the role of Frank Castle (The Punisher).”

In War Zone, an evil mob boss that Castle (Ray Stevenson of HBO’s Rome) left horribly disfigured forms a vengeful crime syndicate. When a cop’s wife (Benz) and her child are kidnapped by the foe, the unpredictable Punisher must reluctantly rescue the pair.

“Even though you could look at (my) films and say genre-wise they’re very related, the characters I play in them are very different,” says Benz. “In The Punisher, my character’s a lot tougher. She’s a fighter and she’s willing to do anything to save her daughter.”

As if its legacy wasn’t enough, Punisher is also gaining notice with its female filmmaker Lexi Alexander. Not only is the former kickboxing champion-turned-director making her big studio debut, but many say she’s an unusual choice to helm such a violent movie.

“On many levels, (she’s) very appropriate. I mean, she is a martial artist so when it came to the fight sequences — these sequences look like street fighting, not stunt fighting,” defends Benz.

“Also I think you needed a woman to wrangle all the (male) egos floating around — the fact that they knew she could kick their ass, they did what she said.”