The Punisher

In the course of waging a war on the criminals responsible for killing his family, Force Recon Marine veteran Frank “The Punisher” Castle (Jon Bernthal) stumbles across a criminal conspiracy involving drug trafficking and extrajudicial military killings overseen by high-ranking CIA operative William Rawlins (Paul Schulze). Frank is aided by David “Micro” Leiberman (Ebon Moss-Bachrach), a presumed-dead former NSA analyst-turned-whistleblower and ex-Navy corpsman Curtis Hoyle (Jason R. Moore), who runs a support group for veterans. Another friend from the service, Billy Russo (Ben Barnes), has founded a private military firm whose operations are threatened by Frank’s quest for vengeance. Meanwhile, DHS agent Dinah Madani (Amber Rose Revah) is running her own investigation that puts her on a collision course with both Frank and the conspirators alike.

Since debuting in the 1970s, the Punisher has been a divisive character not only among comic book fans but among comic book writers. Some treat him as a fundamentally decent family man who was pushed by tragedy to resort to extreme methods; others portray him as a brutal psychopath who happens to be pitted against even worse people. Despite this controversy, Bernthal won much-deserved acclaim for his depiction on season 2 of Daredevil, and so a solo Nextflix series seemed like as much as a safe bet as could be made for such a violent character. While this show has a far narrower appeal than that of Luke Cage or Jessica Jones, it is far from mindless sadism. Tough yet topical, The Punisher serves up character depth and moral dilemmas with its expected gore.

Because Castle has never been one to stray from using lethal force, developing lasting plotlines and recurring characters has not been easy despite The Punisher’s longevity. However, rather than go the all-original route (a la the little-loved 1989 Dolph Lundgren movie), showrunner Steve Lightfoot borrowed when he could, pulling in characters from the comics’ regular continuity and adults-only MAX imprint. He also wisely gave the setting an update: Castle was originally a Vietnam veteran; here, he and other former servicemen are haunted by what they saw and did in Afghanistan. Add surveillance state concern, gun control advocacy and opposition, and the media’s glorification of violence to the show’s thematic mix, and suddenly we’re in quite a bit deeper than “Frank shoots bad guys.”

But of course, Frank still shoots plenty of bad guys. Bernthal humanizes Castle by showing him to be more than just a killing machine. He is, at varying times, a grieving husband and father with a massive guilt complex, a snide and sarcastic New Yorker, and a helpful and protective presence in the lives of Micro’s family (albeit for less than altruistic reasons). Once he picks up a gun (or a knife or a hammer), however, he becomes a growling mass of deadly rage.

It helps that he has some strong personalities (and strong performances) to play off of. Schultz plays Rawlins as a self-serving sadist, a man with no qualms about framing the murder and torture that he orchestrates as being in the national interest. Russo is a more complicated case. In the comics, he was a hot-tempered Mafia thug whom Frank disfigured and made an archenemy out of. Here, he comes across as more calculating and not without honor though still a ruthless operator. As Madani, Revah more than holds her own. She plays the agent as resourceful, tough, determined and fair, and her Persian-American identity is never exploited for cheap filibustering. On the other hand, Moss-Bachrach’s portrayal of Leiberman strikes an odd note. In the comics, Microchip was a scheming fat bastard whose partnership with Frank was of the love-hate variety. Here, as an Edward Snowden stand-in with a familial concern that parallels Frank’s, he is a lot more sympathetic though arguably not as interesting.

As with other Marvel Netflix shows, The Punisher is a slow build at times. The extent of the conspiracy doesn’t become apparent until several episodes in, and a side story involving a disturbed young vet in Curtis’s support group comes to dominate some of the run time. That said, the last few episodes are as tense as peak Daredevil, and there are high emotional beats (the presumed-dead Micro seeks a reunion with his family, Madani copes with loss and betrayal, etc.) to match the shootouts and fisticuffs. True to form for Marvel Netflix properties, there are also unpleasant post-combat medical scenes though this time Rosario Dawson’s nurse character is nowhere to be found.

The Punisher requires a strong stomach, but beneath the agro surface gloss is a character-driven show that offers a grim yet vital look at a war-affected violence-inundated society that rightfully distrusts its corrupt authorities. Sound familiar?

8/10