After years of anticipation, we finally got an adaptation of Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon's epic 90's comic PREACHER, and after watching the pilot twice, I can say AMC has more or less pulled it off, giving us a show that sure is a whole lot of something, none of it boring. Directed by Seth Rogan and Evan Goldberg, they've made some changes from the comic, picking up the story with its main protagonist, Jesse Custer, the preacher of the title, still a man of the cloth in the small town of Annville, Texas. Jesse isn't much a minister, he drinks too much and provides scant spiritual solace to his troubled flock, but there is a mysterious unseen force from the heavens which has come to earth and is possessing spiritual leaders around the globe, and when for whatever reason, it finds them lacking, it's not pretty, as they explode in a rain of blood and gore. Goodbye Tom Cruise! It's obvious from the first that Jesse Custer and the thing from outer space will have a rendezvous before the end of the episode, but first we get to meet a bunch of characters in some of the most spectacularly violent scenes we've seen on TV in a very long time.
Two of these epic introductions belong Tulip O'Hare, a mysterious gal Jesse has a thing for and the equally inexplicable Cassidy, a vampire we first see on a private jet flying over Texas. Cassidy has to bail out after taking down the crew and the other passengers, who were evidently some king of vampire hunters on a mission to stake him. Tulip has an equally bad trip, only it's in a car careening at a high speed through a cornfield while she and a fellow rider try to kill each other with every ounce of strength they can muster. It's all incredibly outrageous and over the top and done with a style that would make Quentin Tarantino proud.
Also totally badass is Jesse's throw down in a bar with a group of malevolent locals where he first meets up with Cassidy; once heard, no one will ever forget that "bunny in a bear trap sound."
We also get to meet some other memorable characters from the comic, the main one being Arseface, a teenager whose suicide attempt has left him disfigured in a way that makes you understand the nick name.
Garth Ennis had described his story as basically a western, but it has ample helpings of fantasy and horror; just watch Cassidy's encounter with the cow in the pasture or poor Ted's visit with his mother, where he opens his heart-literally. It is a show that does require some patience; a lot is implied in the first episode, like Jesse and Tulip's violent past. And this world, which is like our own in every dull detail, is also filled with the supernatural, requiring the viewer to pick up the rules as they go along.
It should be said that the original comic was cutting edge 20 years ago, and nothing dates worse than what was once cutting edge; it hardly courage to take pokes at religion and white southerners, tropes that Pop Culture disparages on a regular basis, but PREACHER has gotten off to a start with a lot of energy and high style, the challenge will be to keep it up. After months of the deadly seriousness of THE WALKING DEAD, a show I love, it's kind of nice to have a change of pace on Sunday night.
The cast seems game, with Dominic Cooper as Jesse, Joseph Gigun as Cassidy, and Ruth Negga as Tulip, all obviously game for the run. Ian Colletti is incredibly good as Arseface, playing in straight through a lot of makeup; also good is W. Earl Brown as his lawman father.
The pilot gets the show off to a good start, but there is a long way to go and a lot of very truly extraordinary characters from the comic. I can't wait for The Saint of Killers and Herr Starr to show up.
Two of these epic introductions belong Tulip O'Hare, a mysterious gal Jesse has a thing for and the equally inexplicable Cassidy, a vampire we first see on a private jet flying over Texas. Cassidy has to bail out after taking down the crew and the other passengers, who were evidently some king of vampire hunters on a mission to stake him. Tulip has an equally bad trip, only it's in a car careening at a high speed through a cornfield while she and a fellow rider try to kill each other with every ounce of strength they can muster. It's all incredibly outrageous and over the top and done with a style that would make Quentin Tarantino proud.
Also totally badass is Jesse's throw down in a bar with a group of malevolent locals where he first meets up with Cassidy; once heard, no one will ever forget that "bunny in a bear trap sound."
We also get to meet some other memorable characters from the comic, the main one being Arseface, a teenager whose suicide attempt has left him disfigured in a way that makes you understand the nick name.
Garth Ennis had described his story as basically a western, but it has ample helpings of fantasy and horror; just watch Cassidy's encounter with the cow in the pasture or poor Ted's visit with his mother, where he opens his heart-literally. It is a show that does require some patience; a lot is implied in the first episode, like Jesse and Tulip's violent past. And this world, which is like our own in every dull detail, is also filled with the supernatural, requiring the viewer to pick up the rules as they go along.
It should be said that the original comic was cutting edge 20 years ago, and nothing dates worse than what was once cutting edge; it hardly courage to take pokes at religion and white southerners, tropes that Pop Culture disparages on a regular basis, but PREACHER has gotten off to a start with a lot of energy and high style, the challenge will be to keep it up. After months of the deadly seriousness of THE WALKING DEAD, a show I love, it's kind of nice to have a change of pace on Sunday night.
The cast seems game, with Dominic Cooper as Jesse, Joseph Gigun as Cassidy, and Ruth Negga as Tulip, all obviously game for the run. Ian Colletti is incredibly good as Arseface, playing in straight through a lot of makeup; also good is W. Earl Brown as his lawman father.
The pilot gets the show off to a good start, but there is a long way to go and a lot of very truly extraordinary characters from the comic. I can't wait for The Saint of Killers and Herr Starr to show up.
