The Punisher

What have you been watching?

Which review was better?

One word.
0
No votes
Thousand word.
3
50%
Somebody below Australia's post.
0
No votes
None. Stop doing these. Everyone hates them.
1
17%
I don't know. I can't read.
2
33%
 
Total votes : 6

The Punisher

Postby Australia » Mon Nov 20, 2017 11:40 pm

Really? There's not a thread for this? Justice League I could understand because nobody in their right mind would be excited for that but I swear the trailer was on here somewhere.

Here’s my one word review: Cool.

Here’s my thousand word review. As with all the good superhero stuff I’m not obliged to GBU review in any way but still do, the negatives are just me being a nitpicky asshole because that’s the most fun stuff to write. It’s more fun when they’re so bad, they can really be ripped into but I do the best with the material I’m given.

The Good
Frank Castle is one of the major reasons Daredevil 2 is my favourite of the 7 Netflix seasons and he doesn’t disappoint here. His inherent violence and rage is constantly echoing through the show and it generally results in great action scenes or impressive sniper shots, but he has a lot more depth than you’d think. I really liked The Defenders but I think The Punisher was the missing element that would make me love it. Similarly, I feel like this could have used just a little fantasy, although defeating magic with guns would have been stupid and uncreative. Hear that, 2016 onwards Batman? It’s a great crime thriller. It’s just barely Marvel and I would have at least liked The Punisher to have a ridiculous gun at one point. I guess the security cameras that pick up sound perfectly will have to do for the mystical itch.

Justice League had barely any justice in it, Ragnarok was light on the Ragnarok for half the film, there was virtually no Homecoming in Homecoming and The Defenders took its sweet time defending but The Punisher is punishing the shit out of people within the first hour. Way to live up to your name, show. There are lulls but he’s always planning a punishment and that’s the main thing.

Frank and David’s frenemyship was great. Very Hitman’s Bodyguard. I love characters that have to be stuck together but can’t help being dicks to each other. That sentence came off more homo-erotic than I intended but hell, I ship it.

A paser to the neck could lead to some problems. Eyes on the other hand get two thumbs down.

Head bomb, head bomb, you’re my head bomb…

The Punisher’s parenting technique – hold a knife to a young boy’s throat. 60% of the time, it works every time.

Jigsaw is a creepy son of a bitch. Killing your girlfriend’s partner then bathing the blood off her like you’re a good person? Get real, you deluded bastard.

There’s just enough of the PTSD there, so that it serves the story and works as a heightened metaphor (well, it’s from actual war thus 1=1, so it’s more of a… is ‘phor’ a word by itself?) without it becoming a sermon or whatever.

There should be a PSA about tossing people off construction sites and drowning them in cement. Someone could get hurt.

The bulletproof window moment was both tense and funny. Cool trick to pull off.

Literally everything from this point forward:
Image
Man, gifs take a while to make with Australian internet.

“Where does one find dead Marines these days? Because he’s not on Facebook or Tinder. I already checked.”

“His name is Lewis and he drives a cab. Can you find him on there?”


The Bad
I already thought the douche in a suit from this show (Jigsaw) looks and acts a lot like the douche in a suit from Iron Fist (Ward Meachum – spell it backwards and they’re the sa… almost fooled you) and when it turns out an old man is pulling his strings, it was a little distracting.

Frank does a lot of sitting down and chatting with someone, or more often getting chatted to by someone. I get that he has to be clandestine but I wish they could have those scenes while they’re doing some activity. Like the torture episode (I want to say episode 3?) or fixing things around the house or… surely there was a loading guns while conversing scene at some point. But ep 6 had Frank sitting on chairs at the dock and talking, then the next scene he’s sitting on a couch and talking. I guess I prefer him as the strong silent type, but I guess it’s to show him opening up more as the show progresses. Still, they’re not going to top the Daredevil rooftop scene so why try? I did like the drunken chat after the kiss though, starting with war stories about their wives and ending in David calling Frank a psychopath.

A few more action scenes wouldn’t have been unwelcome in the middle stretch. It would have been more epic had the storylines started converging through fights than chats. Particularly for the shoot first, ask questions later Frankie Castle. There were enough in the season for a bare minimum but where’s a mini-gun to liven a scene up?

Karen is an awfully popular hostage target. After a while, I think victim blaming is warranted.

Not bad on its own merits but Gunner’s intro. I mean, yikes, recluse with a silly name on the run, hiding in a cabin in the woods guarded by a trip wire in the same month Stranger Things 2 does the exact same thing? Unfortunate coincidence but still, one for the lose column.

Faceoff in a carnival ride. Like that hasn’t been done a thousand times before.

Is this the first instalment without Claire Temple in at least a cameo? Strike one. Better not make a habit out of it. I mean war medic was cool, I guess, but how is healing arrow wounds not a Night Nurse opportunity? I don’t always advocate shoehorning but shoehorn that shit, man.

Frank's dreams are real assholes.


The Ugly
Goddamn, this show loves sandwiches. I mean, everyone loves sandwiches, they’re easy and filling, but there were like, seven close-ups of a sandwich to, I don’t know, beat us over the head about the layers of the characters? Or make us hungry, but I’m not a tomato guy.


I thought this had been postponed until next year because of the Vegas shooting or I wouldn’t have pre-emptively shot my wad on the first decade of MCU ranking I did in my Ragnarok review. Just place this between Winter Soldier and Homecoming. Or make your own list and put it wherever you want. I’m not your mother. I’m Bert’s and you people have done disgusting things to me.
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Re: The Punisher

Postby Piter Lauchy » Mon Dec 25, 2017 10:42 pm

Just finished watching and if I had to describe it in one word that word would be "fuckingbrutal".
I mean, it's The Punisher so I expected some brutality, but I was not prepared for this.
Excellent show that managed to surpass the expectations I had after seeing Daredevil Season 2.
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Re: The Punisher

Postby Australia » Thu Jan 24, 2019 8:54 pm

Season 2: This time it’s still personal. Better squeeze this review in before the show gets canned.
The Good
That first episode is as cool and action-packed as any of the rest of the season (well, that shootout in the police station an ep or two later and the shootout in the street an ep or three after that probably used a lot more of the ammunition budget). It was basically Roadhouse with somehow simultaneous more and less cheese. No throat-pulling though or I’m sure Netflix would be dinged for copyright infringement. If the show had just been an A-Team style Frank going from town to town bashing new dickheads, I’d be on board. But the evolution of the story and journey is better and more compelling, I suppose. My point is it hooked me in straight away. I liked the first half of season 1 well enough but it wasn’t until the second half where things just got awesome. The awesomeness was more evenly spread with the exposition this time.

If police procedurals had main characters get into a gym fight and beat suspects to a pulp with a barbell to get a name, I would watch them.

I understood Frank’s philosophy. Finish what you start in order to survive. I mean, it’s not one I follow. I finish what I start approximately every blue moon but I got his perspective. His ‘be yourself even if yourself is a murderer’ pep talk I’m less on board with but find equally entertaining.

On the one hand, I would not in a million years hang out with Frank Castle. On the other, I understand why Dinah, Curtis and Amy specifically are drawn to him. That’s not usually a pro as it is just how a story works but I just came back from a movie I guess I have to do another one of these for where character motivations are not nearly as believable.

The “Who’s Castle?” running joke almost got tiring but I guess it didn’t because it cracked me up in the finale when like every character said it at the same time. Okay, maybe it was two but that’s, like, half the surviving characters.

Elevator fight. Pretty good for a dude without superserum.

I guess they knew pre-editing or writing that all the MENU shows were dropping like flies because there weren’t any real cliffhangers and all the characters ended up in satisfying places. Even Karen got a nice farewell arc. I like a good tease but let’s face it, this time next week, Punisher’s cancellation will be announced and this works as an actual ending.

“They died from terminal stupidity.” Feel like that’ll be my C.O.D.

“This is a total flustercluck.”

“You didn’t kill him.” Bang. “See, I did.” Cavalier would be putting it lightly, Castle.

The Bad
Jigsaw was captivating enough but if they wanted me to feel a smidge of sympathy for his amnesiacity, they should have given him a scene where he wasn’t still an asshole. “I don’t know why my friend wants me dead so Imma strangle my girlfriend.” “Oh, I murdered his family? So what, don’t deserve this scar.” But I guess that’s the point. He’s the villain so he has to be right all the time. I just felt like some of the early scenes were trying to make him relatable which they didn’t need to. I guess they just wanted to make him different enough from the first season since Marvel thankfully tend not to repeat villains (Kingpin being the major exception and he was even better the second time around. Jigsaw wasn’t any worse but I don’t think I was dying for him to return). I think his face should have been more FUBAR, especially seeing the sheer brutality of his beating last season. It seemed like he was scarred enough for you to understand why he was pissed. The closeups of the left side of his face were a constant reminder of his mental state. But I feel like if he was so cut up that you could barely recognise him under presumably the prosthetics unless he’s a method actor, he could have been something else entirely. Like there’s enough of Frank committing brutal acts of violence that we don’t need a reminder of what he can do but Jigsaw looked less like a jigsaw and more like one of those kids toys where you have to put the square, triangle and circle objects in the right holes to win. Not difficult to tell it’s Billy under there. I’m not a big comics reader but I’ve seen pictures of a truly frightening Jigsaw and there’s not really a comparison. He also set a lot more death traps with people having to torture themselves to get out and… no, I’m getting my Jigsaws confused again, never mind.

Amy’s villains were interesting enough cannon fodder but weren’t so compelling that if they hadn’t been on screen for thirty minutes I’d think “wonder what they’re up to” which I did with Purple Man and Kingpin and even whatsisname from Iron Fist so I guess if I was hard-pressed to find a flaw, it would be the villains but I still enjoyed them for what they are, aka an ironic political foe considering Frank strikes me as the most apolitical character on streaming television (well, I’m sure he’s anti-gun control but that’s about it). Regardless, nothing bothered me about the show, I just have to find something to complain about or the section would be blank and I can’t have that so I have to focus on the what-could-have-beens.

They could have done more with the bounty. They did enough with it. I just wish they’d kind of done one or two out-of-nowhere attempted murdiversions that had nothing to do with the rest of the plot.

Curtis is the world’s worst babysitter. Amy either ran off or was kidnapped every time he was watching her.

It was a bit of a copout that Castle didn’t shoot those women. It makes sense, Billy wouldn’t leave something like that to chance and there was very limited time to finish off the punishing but Frank pulling the trigger added a bit of nuance to the scene. As it was, Frank was shooting blindly through the wall of a hotel the next chance he got.

Crazy shrink never said “They call me Mrs Glass” after sharing her glass-related backstory and being behind Russo’s russorection.

The Punisher is a sexist name for a show. Why couldn’t it be called The Punishim?

The Ugly
I don’t think cutting from a shot of someone wildly firing bullets into a ton of people to ‘In loving memory’ is appropriate. It was more funny than anything. Might have been better tossing at the end of the episode of Frank in the cemetery. But Stanny boy seemed to enjoy black humour so who am I to judge for him?
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