Yahoo News The Punisher Netflix season 1 review
How far can you get from The Punisher while still calling yourself The Punisher? That's the question skull-tattooed Frank fans will be asking themselves pretty quickly into the character's first full stand-alone Netflix show.
It starts strongly (in those terms) with Frank (Jon Bernthal) wearing the skull (something that didn't happen in the first big-screen adaptation of the character), driving his Battle Van (something that's never happened in any adaptation of the character) and having a gun fight with a biker gang. (Okay, we've seen gunfights before.)
We're barely minutes into the first episode before Castle ostensibly completes his mission, sets his costume on fire and goes into retirement, growing a big Beard Of Sorrow and getting a job in construction which seems to involve him mostly hitting a wall with a hammer and having flashbacks.
But, just when he thinks he's out, they pull him back in ('they' being the writers) – thanks to an insanely coincidental criminal conspiracy happening on his doorstep, and some new information about the death of his family. The latter causes him to team up with canon character Microchip (Ebon Moss-Bachrach), who's so radically changed from the source material he's basically unrecognisable.
That key change is the butterfly flapping its wings to cause a hurricane of big tweaks that make this feel less like a Punisher show and more like an exploration of friendship and family.
This version of Frank has as many smile lines as worry wrinkles on his face. There are several jokes about Frank looking like a hipster because he dresses in black and has a beard ("I was thinking of going full man-bun," Frank says to Deborah Ann Woll's Karen in episode two, like someone who didn't spend half of the last episode hitting a wall with a hammer or reading Moby Dick in an otherwise empty room. Actually, now we put it like that, maybe Frank is a hipster.)
He also spends a significant amount of time building a relationship with a surrogate family (Microchip's, possibly the biggest canon change here).
But it's not just brighter tonally. A large chunk of the show takes place in broad daylight, not on the dark back-streets you might have been expecting, frequently making it feel more like a crime procedural than a show about a death-dealing vigilante.
All of which isn't a criticism. Those concerned about an entirely faithful Punisher series in the current climate of out-of-control shootings can rest relatively easy. Episode nine even contains a gun debate, though, slightly worryingly, we're not entirely sure who we're supposed to be siding with. Frank is generally a far more rounded character, thankfully, in part, to a secondary villain that's clearly meant to represent the kind of real-life gun nut Frank could potentially inspire.
Where the series goes wrong is where it shifts away from Frank, with slightly dull supporting characters given way too much screen time (we could have done with approximately 70% less time with the Homeland security team, as good as Amber Rose Revah is as Dinah, the agent pursuing Castle).
That's because Jon Bernthal is giving the performance of his life, so any time spent away from him feels wasted.
The Walking Dead's Shane has come a long way, thanks, presumably, to Bernthal's time working with big-screen directors like Martin Scorsese and Edgar Wright.
Frank could have easily been Shane mark two, but Bernthal makes the most of this opportunity to play a more layered character, adding charisma, occasional warmth and even gentleness to the righteous fiery anger that turns him into the Punisher who fans will more readily recognise.
And, as much as he's changed, that character hasn't been completely abandoned. The Gnucci crime family briefly appear (no Ma, though), 'Welcome back Frank' is uttered, we get a slightly odd origin story for one of The Punisher's most iconic villains, and the back end of the season gets insanely violent. Episode twelve is essentially Hostel – this is not a show for children.
But he has been developed and strengthened. Thank goodness.
As the season ends, the scene's set for a far more faithful rendering next time out, but until then, we welcome this more textured take. Astonishingly, it ends on a note of hope – to the extent that if this is the last time we ever see the character, we'll be very happy.
How far can you get from The Punisher while still calling yourself The Punisher? Very, as it turns out.
Early on in the series, new (and infinitely likeable) character Curtis (Jason R Moore) gives Castle some advice: "Do me a favour, Frank. Don't be a wallowing asshole." We're thankful he listened.
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