The following review is written by James Stickling. Read, think, discuss. Enjoy.
“It was the time of the preacher.”
In Texas, the air dies and the heat is unforgiving. The sun shuts your eyes. It is a place of legend. I once stood out on a clay road just outside of San Antonio. The wind finally woke up and brought with a howl that sounded like old voices.
It is the perfect setting for Preacher.
I’ve been a fan of the story for a long time. For me, this is personal. At first, hearing the Seth Rogen would be involved, I was skeptical. The casting of Dominic Cooper reassured me. I’ve been waiting for him to break out. This is his vehicle. He has an uncertain vulnerability that hides a man haunted by his past. He goes seamlessly from a man at a loss to a destructive force.
This is not a literal interpretation of the comic. It takes some liberties but the story is there. It is true to the original premise.
Preacher is not a superhero. There is no room for this story to be told on CW. No drama filled episodes with mediocre actors and predictable story lines. AMC allows Preacher the same gritty realism as The Walking Dead. It is like a Tarantino apocalyptic western. Bar fights lead to Sunday sermons and along the way there’s a lot a blood.
I’m already a fan, as many will soon be, of Cassidy played true by Joe Gulgin. He is charming as the Irish blood-sucker.
Tulip is a strong female character. She is tough and in no need of saving. Ruth Negga brings these elements perfectly.
No matter what you give me, no matter whom you cast, what matters to me in anything I watch is the story. This is not just about a Preacher blessed with “superpowers.”
This is a man in a crisis of faith. He not only doubts his God. He doubts himself. He is a man searching for truth in a world lacking it. Sometimes trying to find what is right leads to so much grey. This is where Preacher walks. He is at war with the man he was while trying to be the man he wishes to be. He desires to put right what is wrong. In doing so, he blurs the line.
All the while, something is coming. This is just the beginning.
I’ve been a fan of the story even back when I, an eighteen year old, decided to be a preacher. That was a long time ago. Twenty-one years have come and gone. Five years of school and countless hours of prayers that seemingly never made it past the ceiling. My bible collects dust. My degrees are in storage. I never wore a collar.
Now after all this, Jesse Custer comes to life.
Sitting alone in his moment of doubt, his feet up on a pew, he lights a cigarette. The church is dark. He waits for an answer to his prayers.
“Forgive me.”
Nothing.
“Oh well. Fuck you too.”
I sat in the parking lot and rolled down my window. The night air was the only one to hear my prayer. I waited for something to tell me what I should do next. All I heard was the sound of crickets from the nearby field. They chattered in an almost mocking chorus.
The next day I left the church.
For some people their heroes wear capes. Me, I like mine a little different.
“Every saint has a past, every sinner has a future” -Oscar Wilde
Sometimes to see the light you have to have a little darkness.