Preacher Review 

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Based on Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon’s comic book of the same name, Preacher brings a delightfully funny and wicked vibe to AMC’s schedule with its premiere episode this Sunday. Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg wrote and directed the pilot (Sam Catlin is serving as their fellow executive producer and showrunner) and it has some of the same “anything goes” vibe as Rogen and Goldberg’s This is the End, with its mixture of gory supernatural/horror elements and black comedy.

Without giving away the details, the opening scene, set in an African church, gives you a good idea of what to expect from the show and if you find yourself entertained by the messy event that happens there, you’re probably in for the ride this show is offering.

Dominic Cooper (making a leap from playing Marvel’s Howard Stark to another comic book character) stars as Jesse Custer, who serves as a preacher in a small, Texas town – where his sermons are met with indifference by the locals. But Jesse’s life is about to get a whole lot more interesting, as he runs into a troublemaking former girlfriend, Tulip (Agents of SHIELD’s Ruth Negga), and Cassidy (Joe Gilgun), a fast-talking Irish guy with a very notable supernatural secret.

During the course of the pilot, all three actors quickly feel like exactly the right choices for their respective roles. I was somewhat wary of Cooper playing Jesse when he was cast, simply because it felt so different from the type of characters he’s portrayed before. But Cooper proves to be perfect, bringing just the right world-weariness and skepticism – mixed with an underlying wish to do the right thing -- to the role. Gilgun meanwhile is a lot of fun (albeit sometimes hard to understand with his thick accent and fast-paced manner of speech – which is acknowledged) as Cassidy, who is introduced in a very big way in a standout, action-packed sequence on a plane.

Negga though outdoes everyone in terms of entrances. To use the term “firecracker” for Tulip is only the tip of the iceberg, as we meet this no-nonsense, endearing, dangerous woman in the midst of a rather insane and awesome series of events that have her taking on some formidable enemies. Negga is utterly charming in the role, while also doing some wonderfully over the top things – some of which occur offscreen in a scene that is quite amusing and clever in terms of whose perspective we stay on while Tulip is kicking ass - all while likely saving the production from spending a ton of money in terms of not having to show the Huge Thing Tulip is doing.

The pilot to Preacher only hints at what the show’s overall storyline will be, as that sequence in Africa leads to other worldwide phenomenon we see glimpses of occurring on the news – as it inevitably gets closer and closer to Jesse and a greater purpose he doesn’t see coming.

In the midst of this, the gory delights include a bottle of wine being used in a way you’ve never seen before and someone’s ear getting Mike Tyson’d. Rogen and Goldberg make it clear from the get go this show exists in a bigger than life world, yet at the same time, Jesse himself and the town he lives in are grounded enough to not make it all feel like a cartoon.

I’m a huge fan of the comic book Preacher is based on and loved the pilot for the show, but there will likely be a dividing line for fans -- as there is with most adaptations of something this beloved -- depending on how much of a purist you are. It’s clear by the end of the pilot this show is using the comic as inspiration but not as the map for an issue-by-issue adaptation. Right from the start, there are some notable differences for the situations and characters – and some characters who are themselves fairly different from the comic. Sheriff Root (Deadwood’s W. Earl Brown) for instance is shown to have sympathy for his horrible disfigured son, Eugene (Ian Colletti) that the comic book Root never would be so quick to show to the boy nicknamed "Arseface.” But for those who are accepting of some changes or for those completely new to this world, it’s easy to be drawn in by Preacher.

If you want a page-for-page, exact match adaption of Preacher, this isn’t it. But if you are open to seeing a different take on the same overall story, there’s a lot to love here. As gory as the Preacher pilot is, it probably will still have to hold back in a few places (even with just language alone, amongst other areas) that the comics went. But it still retains the spirit and attitude of the comic in a way that makes it feel like a very respectful interpretation of the source material. Rogen, Goldberg, Catlin and their talented cast effortlessly draw you into this world and make it easy to be excited about what’s to come on this series.

Preacher premieres Sunday, May 22nd at 10:00pm ET/PT on AMC, after Fear the Walking Dead\'s midseason premiere.

The acclaimed cult comic book gets a worthy TV adaptation via Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg.

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