‘The Punisher’ is a Solid Intro to Frank Castle’s Story in the MCU. Spoiler-free Review
Whats up guys! It’s ya boy Dorian here, back at it again with another review! This past weekend I had the pleasure of watching the first 6 episodes of the upcoming Marvel series The Punisher. If you’re familiar with my work, then you know I usually do video reviews, but today I decided to switch it up and write my thoughts out. Seeing that the show hasn’t officially come out yet I will avoid any spoilers.
Let’s get to the review!
Netflix
Overall, I’d say The Punisher is definitely one of the better Marvel Netflix shows to date. The main thing that separates it from the other shows is that it’s doing its own thing. This isn’t your normal comicbook show where we see the underdog struggle until they go on their own journey and become the hero they’re meant to be.
Here’s some advice going into this: Think of this show as a standalone. Yes, it takes place within the MCU, but the story doesn’t have anything to do with the mess that’s going on in Hell’s Kitchen. If you’ve watched season 2 of Daredevil, then you already know a little about Frank Castle’s origin.
This series picks up with Frank Castle working on a construction site going by the alias, Pete Castiglione. He’s trying to start over and forget about his past. Franke Castle is a very complex person and The Punisher does a great job of showing us Frank as a more sympathetic character. It’s hard trying to empathize with a character that kills people without remorse, but they do a great job of diving into Frank as a person and making us care about him.
Jon Bernthal is phenomenal as Frank Castle. The writers did a great job of taking what we loved about Frank in S2 of Daredevil and building off of it by adding a lot more depth and backstory to his character. If you’re a fan of the Punisher comics, then you are definitely going to be pleased by the series and their take on the character. Bernthal really transformed into Frank Castle. Respeck.
The Punisher has a very strong cast. Dinah Madani (Amber Rose Revah) who works for the Department of Homeland Security is investigating the homicide of someone she cared about and that’s how she gets thrown into Franks life. Revah does a great job of leading the show when Frank isn’t the main focus. She doesn’t take no for an answer and will do whatever it takes to get the job done. We don’t see her and Frank interact a whole lot, but I think that will change in the back half of the season.
I enjoyed seeing Karen Page (Deborah Ann Woll) in this show. I know a lot of people feel a certain way about Karen, but I like her, so knuck if you buck. It felt like she had more of a purpose in this show. She shows up to help Frank gather info on someone trying to find him and that pretty much throws us into the main story of the first part of the season. I loved Karen and Frank’s scenes in Daredevil, and seeing them continue to build on that relationship was great because you can tell Frank sees his daughter in Karen and wants to keep her safe no matter what. Karen being part of the story was perfect because it reminded us that it is all connected in someway and i appreciate that they are really trying to build out this MCU Netflix universe.
Netflix
Although the first few episodes didn’t have as much action as I was hoping for, The Punisher is without a doubt the most violent series ever produced by Marvel. The action scenes in the show felt grittier, more realistic, and a lot more brutal than we’re used to seeing. I hope the success of this show will motivate them to do more mature shows like this. The formula they used for this show would be great for the Ghost Rider.
Cons:
In a couple of the episodes, the pacing was off and it seemed like they didn’t know where to take the show. The writers gave us more character exposition than we needed, which made it drag a little bit. They kept a few scenes going when they weren’t that necessary to the overall plot. I would’ve like to have seen more action throughout the first few episodes, but I have a good feeling that it’s going to pick up a lot more from Ep 7 and beyond.
Marvel’s The Punisher debuts Friday, November 17th on Netflix
