See, I've always felt that Frank would work best as a gritty TV series, but this "NYPD cop thing?" NO! Just NO! Why the hell do you need to change the origin? What possible freaking difference would it make?!?
Frank was a war vet and strong Christian who's family was wiped out by random violence. He's forced to turn to drastic measures when the system fails him. It's a conflicted decision, one at odds with a man who had been on the verge of being ordained as a priest until he randomly met the love of his life and decided on a family instead. That's dramatic gold right there.
It's incredibly frustrating, as a huge fan of the character, to see three disparate attempts that get certain aspects so right:
- The Dolph version nailed the "faith" aspect, and not much else.
- The Jane version came closest, lifting some stuff verbatim from "Punisher: Year One" and ruining it with all the Garth Ennis "Welcome Back Frank" BS, and the butchering of the origin.
- The Stevenson version NAILS the character, and the "pursuing detectives" subplot, but flushes everything else with it's focus on comic-book visuals, cartoonish villains, and an over-reliance on gore factor.
Ideally we'd get Ray Stevenson in a gritty and realistic portrayal of a man driven to drastic means through random happenstance, who struggles with his own inner demons (PTSD and his crumbling faith) and a dedicated Police officer driven to take him down, but in constant conflict with his/her own ideals of whether or not what Frank is doing is right or wrong.
