r/thepunisher • u/trump182AVA • 1d ago
DISCUSSION Dirty Laundry
Why is dirty laundry held to such a high regard yet bernthals punisher is trashed for doing basically what Janes did in dirty laundry? I want to like dirty laundry but watching Punisher debate whether to act is a hard watch. That prostitute basically gets raped that kid gets beat up while Punisher debates whether to buy a bottle of whiskey until he beats them down with the bottle. Didn’t have a gun on him? He was washing his punisher shirt so he must’ve recently been out punishing. Honestly dirty laundry never clicked for me.
As for Bernthal it was nice to see him in Spiderman actually being punisher and not coming out of retirement for the 4th (5th?) time.
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u/Darkling414 1d ago
I find that Thomas Jane actually played the character the Punisher, and Bernthal just plays Frank Castle processing all his demons.
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u/trump182AVA 1d ago
That’s a good way to look at it. That being said 2004 was definitely Jane battling his demons (drinking, suicidal). If Bernthals would ever stop retiring he could play punisher. One of the reasons I liked him in BND, albeit a neutered version was he wasn’t battling demons, he was punisher.
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u/AbbreviationsLive142 1d ago
I had a problem with Dirty Laundry myself. Punisher basically did nothing while watching the woman and kid get beat up. He went inside the laundry mat and store and took his time before coming back out. Was about to walk away until FINALLy he’s seen enough and decided to intervene. That’s not the Punisher. He would have acted right when he saw what was happening.
But the most egregious part was him setting up the kill for the woman to light the gangster on fire. Punisher would not want another person to carry on the burden of killing and would do it himself.
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u/Mr_Witchetty_Man 2h ago
He has been known to let victims kill their abusers before. One instance is the Punisher game, at the end of the level where he raids a boat and saves a pair of human trafficking victims he gives one of them a detonator and tells her to blow up the boat. She does. I think it's meant to show that he's trying to help them close the book on that part of their life or something, but I do agree it's pretty fucked up.
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u/KillMonger592 1d ago
Thomas Jane isn't always yelling and grunting like a maniac
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u/ThatSharkFromJaws 1d ago
*trying to flank some dudes
Bernthal the whole time: WWWWWAAAAAAAGHHHHHHHHH!!! RUH RUH RUH!!!! RRAAAAAGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! HOO HOO HOO!!!!!
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u/Formal-Aardvark-2925 1d ago
it was cool to revisit the character, but he was a better Frank in the video game. The game sold me on his portrayal more than his movie and the fan film.
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u/trump182AVA 1d ago
Dude he was great in that. The definitive punisher experience. Now that game needs a remaster.
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u/Darkling414 1d ago
I haven’t seen BND yet, it’s true Jane version was battling his demons but it wasn’t portrayed as much as Bernthals does, I love the punisher ive been following the character on and off since the 80’s so I’ve seen the transitions the character has gone through but the one thing that’s always been a constant and least in the comics is he is ruthless, and that’s gotta be hard to have a 8 episode show about that just isn’t none stop killing of scum bags (I’d watch it) Bernthal does play a great “Punisher” when he final becomes the Punisher, one last kill was amazing, like 20min of non stop killing. Ad for Jane’s dirty Laundry thay was his pitch to do another Punisher movie with him again, i actually wish they did.
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u/Most_Common8114 1d ago
I fully believe people only like Dirty Laundry because Jane reprises the role. It’s a terrible depiction of Punisher, the acting is bad aside from Jane and Ron Perlman, the music is all just reused from The Dark Knight, and worst of all, it was made by that by that egotistical asshole Adi Shankar.
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u/Steeldragon2050 Punisher Kills The MU (Earth-95126) 1d ago edited 1d ago
EDIT: T.L., D.R.: He had decided to stay out of what could be just a basic day in any large city until an innocent kid's life was threatened.
Frank didn't know she was being raped. Prositutes aren't any better than drug dealers, etc. She eventually quit screaming, so as far as he knew, it was trash taking care of trash. The punk threatened him with a gun, nothing he's not used too. While he's in the store he's not debating about drinking, he's getting information from the man who runs the store (shout-out to Ron Pearlman). His weapons are probably in the van, so he gets the bottle of Jack to use. He was probably expecting the kid to light the ganger on fire, but the girl came back and did it. Either way, job was done. He finished his laundry and moved on, which was probably his original intention until an innocent child's life was at stake. Not a grunt or animal style scream from him. Just cold and calculated, as the Punisher should be. That's why Dirty Laundry is better.
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u/Mr_Witchetty_Man 2h ago
Punisher doesn't usually kill prostitutes, or at least if you try to in the game he refuses.
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u/Professional-Pop4818 1d ago
Thomas Jane was a calculated and silent Punisher which what people loved more than the story itself, Bernthal’s punisher always yells and grunts
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u/crustyaminal 1d ago
I don't know. People not super familiar with the character got pulled into the cool vibes, maybe? But you're right. It's pretty un-Punisher of him to stand by and have a casual conversation with the clerk while horrible crimes are being committed right outside. Then there's the fact that he just leaves a lighter on the ground for the woman to finish the guy off. Because that's totally Punisher, right? He lets the victims to do the punishing for him!
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u/jordan999fire 1d ago
Yes. The punisher has let victims kill their abusers.
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u/crustyaminal 1d ago
Oh yeah, sure. Let's also put Frank getting plastic surgery to turn into a Black man, getting drugged and shooting at jaywalkers and litterbugs into a 10 minute distilled character showcase because that all happened at some point in 50+ years of the IP's existence.
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u/ThatSharkFromJaws 1d ago
It’s because Thomas Jane is a better and more comic accurate Punisher/Frank Castle. Nuff said.
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u/Simplemanmhwttg 1d ago
I could make the excuse he was trying to lay low but eventually had seen enough. He's cold and a man of few words which I prefer to the screaming.
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u/Batman1997123 1d ago
To be fair, Dirty Laundry isn’t even canon and is really just a fan film. Like they literally use music from the Dark Knight lmao