Review of Netflix' The Punisher series
Jon Bernthal's Frank Castle is almost reason to watch The Punisher. Bernthal looks and acts Real Life tough and his nose has clearly been broken many times. He exudes menace and broods well, but unlike say Jason Statham, he can pivot to softer emotions and humor with ease. Bernthal is a damn good actor and this is a perfect role for him.
Most episodes involve Castle moping around about his dead family until he gears up for a bit of ultraviolent revenge, which is generally the most stylish and satisfying part of the show. Behind every villain responsible for the deaths of Castle’s family is another villain more responsible who will be taken to task in next week’s episode.
The show veers awkwardly from its comic book roots to attempting to paint a gritty reality of soldiers traumatized by war. Flashbacks to the Afghanistan war are embarassingly uninformed. In one scene, Frank and his fellow marines hold a line at the bottom of some rubble and are chewed up by the enemy until Frank charges alone and kills them all one by one, in a ridiculous gorefest. Frank’s comrades, who he is so loyal to, are strangely absent during the time he had to murder the entire Taliban. Poor writing and cartoon violence undermine the various attempts at Serious Messaging.
One of Frank’s comrades, Billy Russo (Ben Barnes), has started himself a Private Military Contracting firm since leaving the service.
SPOILER ALERT: We know how evil those Private Military Contractors are, don’t we? And so many minions to kill! Yet Billy Russo was - in the first few episodes - so jarringly sympathetic that I kept coming back for more, hoping desperately that, just once, the Private Military Contractor would be the Good Guy. Give the writers a bit of credit for thus tricking me into watching 5 episodes. But alas, slavery to the cliche has not been abolished. Those minions are going to die, Billy Russo is going to be Punished, and I wasted 5 hours of my life.
(At this point, would anyone complain if innocent military contractors were summarily executed? The propaganda against them is overwhelming. It must be a thankless job. Like being a Russian.)
But don’t fret, the Public Military-Industrial Complex or whatever gets its fair share of abuse at the hands of Frank Castle as well. Unless they happen to be Dinah Madani (Amber Rose Revah), a DHS special agent who is happy to assist Frank’s various serial killings if it will eliminate corruption in the government. Also, like so many modern women, Dinah lives in the Matrix, where her 90 pound frame is easily capable of kicking any man’s ass, as well as holding up and firing any gun without effects from recoil.
The Punisher may not be good, but it’s better than most Netflix fare (for what that’s worth). Given the low standards of modern entertainment, you might want to watch it despite my negativity - especially if you are a Jon Bernthal fan.
BONUS interesting yet irrelevant quote from Bernthal about working with Kevin Spacey on Baby Driver:
Going on to that set and working with him, I wasn't there much, but when I was there, he really rubbed me the wrong way. I thought he was a bit of a bully. I didn't really care for the way he was behaving toward some of the other people on set. I remember at the time thinking, 'Man, if that was a woman that he was talking to, I would've done something, I would've said something'. I was really happy to sort of get out of there for that reason, and I just remember losing a ton of respect for him. I think it would be weak of me to sort of pile on about some shit that I don't know about, but the kind of man he was when I saw him, working with him, made me lose all respect for him and I was enormously disappointed.