On this week’s edition of ‘The Best Acting I’ve Ever Seen‘ – let’s talk about Netflix’s THE PUNISHER series, starring Jon Bernthal.
The Actor: Jon Bernthal
The Series: The Punisher Season 1 (2017)
Director: Andy Goddard
The Scene: Frank Castle (Jon Bernthal) flashes back to one of his most violent battles ever in Kandahar in a sequence that may have truly given birth to the Punisher LONG before the current events in which his family was taken from him.
My thoughts: For starters, this sequence isn’t just a brilliant display of near dialog-free raw aggression and brutality from Jon Bernthal, it’s also one of the greatest music accompanied scenes ever filmed. Featuring The White Buffalo “Wish It Was True”, be prepared to witness a bloodied and battered Frank Castle struggle to kill his enemies in one of the most violent and horrifying sequences of modern war ever filmed. Director Andy Goddard has a lengthy resume in directing various TV episodes for a plethora of series, but this little flashback is his finest work. Even without the beautiful soundtrack, when you focus in on Bernthal’s face you can literally witness the sanity being drained from him as the blood splatter from his foes drenches his face after all that stabbing and brain smashing. The guttural screams of rage that emanate from Bernthal as he goes over the edge to survive at all costs is hands down the most harrowing work of the actor’s career.
The Punisher was arguably the best Netflix TV series ever made and it left the service far too soon, thanks to Disney’s purging of their adult-oriented Marvel shows. Jon Bernthal is consistently one of the hardest and most reliable performers on the planet and I don’t believe there’s an actor who can push themselves as hard as Jon does in this scene (and series mind you). The Punisher has been adapted before, but no performance of Frank Castle comes remotely close to Bernthal’s take on the vigilante hero. Jon Bernthal – that was some of the best acting I’ve ever seen in my whole life. Thank you.
