Exactly, War Zone was a mindless, let's-see-how-much-gore-we-can throw-at-the-audience-because-we-have-no-story type film. It was style over substance and unlike Jane's Punisher, I can't even really remember the story of War Zone. Jane's Punisher I can remember well as it had a story and it had moments from the Ennis stories. You can't bypass the story in favor of 90 min. of unique deaths. Get a "Faces of Death" video if you want that. A movie needs to make the audience care about the protagonist and War Zone failed to do that. Even Lundgren's performance made you care more about what happens.
Also, Jane wasn't recast until Jane himself withdrew from Punisher 2 due to a disagreement on the plot and story. After seeing War Zone, I can see why. He didn't want just 90 min. of gory killings with nothing backing them up. I think the 2004 Punisher, while having a weak villain in Travolta, had the best mixture of story drama and action. It was a balanced film and the extended cut is even better.