Jon Bernthal: ‘ The Punisher’ gets his rewards

AFTER his character, Shane Walsh, got turned into a walker in Season 2 of “The Walking Dead,” I’m glad to note Jon Bernthal has not been wanting for great and interesting projects. He was in Martin Scorsese’s “The Wolf of Wall Street,” he went slightly against type and played a very cool teacher in the tender “Me and Earl and the Dying Girl,” and just last summer, he was in Edgar Wright’s brilliant “Baby Driver.”

After appearing as Frank Castle a.k.a. The Punisher in the second season of Netflix’s “Daredevil,” Bernthal returns for a solo Punisher series. “The Punisher” took me back to the ‘70s, not because of a retro feel but because Eastwood in “Dirty Harry” (1971) Joe Don Baker in “Walking Tall” and Charles Bronson in “Death Wish” (1974).

Of course The Punisher is done with 2017 sensibilities in terms of title, soundtrack, cinema which includes guns in the title sequence.

While Bernthal nails the character and the would see this story the same way. Some may see it as just another comic book character getting a good (even great for some) treatment on the small screen. Others—and here is where it could get tricky—can also take it in as a “fascist fantasy” and not see the arguments or different underlying philosophies and trains of thought on the subject.

For what it’s worth, The Punisher is well made, with a cast that includes Daredevil’s Deborah Ann Woll as Karen Page and Ben Barnes who gets as far away from Prince Caspian as he has in his career.

Eight years later, the characters on The Walking Dead continue on a rinse repeat cycle of moving towns, dealing with the villain of the moment and not heading towards any kind of resolution.

In contrast, Bernthal’s career continues an enjoyable trajectory with all sorts of varied and the Fantomes;” IMDB puts the story down as “a roadie travels across North America with Ben Barnes, Deborah Ann Woll and Jon Bernthal a punk band during the 1980’s” with femme The Walking Dead’s” Frank Dillane. He’s also got “The First Man” about the 1969 lunar landing with Ryan Gosling and “The Crown’s” Claire Foy and the crime drama, “Widows” with and Viola Davis.

The first season of “The Punisher” was released on Netflix on November 17, with thirteen episodes out.