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I generally tend to stay away from writing about comic related things. That's Gasher's domain ( Mike to you ) so I stay away. For starters Gasher does it better than I do, secondly I'm married to a real woman and she might divorce me if she found out I like comics, Gash doesn't have that problem because he openly states he loves comics. I couldn't stay quiet on this one though, I love Preacher. It's amazing, everything about it is perfect. Not only that, I once used a line from it to pull a bird. I have a bond with it. I am really not looking forward to the upcoming TV version though, keep reading to see why.
Seth Rogen
Seth Rogan: Yesterday
I think I'm in the minority here, but in my opinion Seth Rogen is one of the worst things to happen to films in my lifetime. I remember it well when I realised I didn't have my finger on the pulse for the world. It was during the trailers to an unforgettable film, I forget what. During these trailers a trailer for Pineapple Express played, it showed that scene where Seth is smoking a joint and sings "this is good weed". Cue uproarious laughter from the cinema. I'm old, I'm crotchety, I'm a cunt and I just don't fucking get it. What the fuck is funny about that? I don't see it. I just don't see it. Even if I did get it, it's not the kind of humour that rings true to Preacher.
Preacher is brutal and honest. Preacher has shades of realism to it, that hits home and makes you smile because you see it in your own life. Preacher has a tribute to Bill Hicks part way through. Seth Rogen has one mode of writing, stoner humour. I'm not one of those that thinks comic shows and movies should stick to the source material perfectly. I understand to get things onto screen things need to be changed. Both for TV audiences and because things that work on page don't always work on screen. I get that, I do however think that the tone of the show should stick to what the comics was. Seth Rogen for me has not shown enough variation is his work to be able to pull off something so different. I don't give a fuck how much of a fan of the comics he is, that doesn't mean he has the talent to pull it off.
Preacher is brutal and honest. Preacher has shades of realism to it, that hits home and makes you smile because you see it in your own life. Preacher has a tribute to Bill Hicks part way through. Seth Rogen has one mode of writing, stoner humour. I'm not one of those that thinks comic shows and movies should stick to the source material perfectly. I understand to get things onto screen things need to be changed. Both for TV audiences and because things that work on page don't always work on screen. I get that, I do however think that the tone of the show should stick to what the comics was. Seth Rogen for me has not shown enough variation is his work to be able to pull off something so different. I don't give a fuck how much of a fan of the comics he is, that doesn't mean he has the talent to pull it off.
The casting of Tulip
I'm going to get this sentence out of the way right now, I have a problem with this because the actress is mixed race. I know what you're thinking, typical white, CIS male. It's not that I have a problem with characters being portrayed by actors of a different race to the original. Except for three of them Jesse, Tulip and the girl in the picture below, Cindy.
Image Credit: comicvine.com
That scene right there can never happen in the same way if Tulip is mixed race. That scene and the storyline that precedes it shows that Jesse isn't a stereotypical, confederate flag waving, racist good ole' boy. He genuinely does take each person as who they are and judges them on the content of their character. Without Tulip being a white girl, it takes away the meaning in that scene and it just becomes him kissing the love struck deputy after they have scared away the Ku Klux Klan. I know that sentence still sounds pretty awesome, but wouldn't it be better if it was solidifying Jesse as a likable protagonist? Tough, it cannot happen now. The second thing that makes no sense to me about this, is that it's set in the south of America. A notoriously unenlightened part of the world. A mixed race girlfriend? Jody and TC would have murdered her before Jesse had chance to even touch her. It's not that I have a problem with characters having their race changed, just not to the detriment of the story. Jesse, Tulip and Cassidy are all integral to the story with their characters unadulterated. Anyone else can be changed in any way, but those three should be as accurate as humanly possible.
Joe Gilgun
I like Joe Gilgun. I liked him in This Is England. I liked him in Misfits. I think he's pretty cool. Is he Cassidy? No, no he's not. His acting style is completely at odds with the character. It just doesn't make sense. I'm not going to go into too much detail with this one because my main problems with his portrayal all stem from...
The Trailer
I waited to form a full opinion of my expectations until I saw the trailer, apart from Tulip being mixed race, I had absolutely no idea how other things would pan out in terms of the tone of the show. I watched it and my expectation levels have completely subsided. Jesse is a cunt. Cassidy is as weird as fuck. Cassidy especially seems so out of place it is unreal. The way he talks to Jesse when they're in prison sounds more like Ardal O'Hanlon in Father Ted than Colin Farrell starting a bar fight. There is nothing likable about any of them from the trailer. There is no mention of any supernatural element. The tone of the show is just that of a nasty fucker who is now a priest. It just seems like a completely different animal to the source material. If that's what they wanted to do, why not do it? This is the problem I have with the American television industry, they take something that works, something that people like and decide to do their own version of it. They then take out all of the good bits and blame the source material when it fails. Maybe Preacher will prove me wrong, I hope it does. I'll definitely give it a chance, but everything so far points to it being more of a failure than when they tried to make it into a movie.
Post Pilot Opinion
In the words of William Melvin Hicks: Quick capsule review, piece of shit.
By The Cunt
Email The Cunt
A hidden face of the crew, The Cunt is main coder for Foul Entertainment games. He is currently documenting the progress of our game, Foul Fantasy, in his dev blogs.
Email The Cunt
A hidden face of the crew, The Cunt is main coder for Foul Entertainment games. He is currently documenting the progress of our game, Foul Fantasy, in his dev blogs.