Preacher - Season 1 [DVD]

Sometimes you can't find an easy label to describe a book, movie, or tv show. How do you describe Preacher? Black comedy. Fantasy.Thriller. Character drama. With a bit of philosophy as well.This was originally a popular comic which ran for just over sixty issues back in the 1990's. It's the story of Jesse Custer. A preacher in a small texas town. Who after a strange encounter gains a very unique ability. Along with two sidekicks - old flame Tulip and an Irishman with history called Cassidy - he sets off on a unique quest. To bring someone to account.The above is the best you can say about this without spoilers.Preacher was very much strictly a comic for grown ups. It made you laugh out loud at decidedly black humour moments, it made you care for it's lead characters, take an interest in a very eclectic supporting cast, and it did make you think about a few things as well.People have been trying to adapt it ever since. First announced as a movie back in 1998, with Johnny Depp and Cameron Diaz supposedly in the leads. That never happened. Nor did various big budgeted movie attempts. Low budgeted independent movie attempts. And also an attempt to make it for the HBO network.But the producers of this attempt have succeeded. Because this doesn't try to be a totally faithful adaptation. It takes elements of the comic, and uses them as it wishes. Characters turn up earlier in the narrative than those familiar with it will expect. Tulip here is more hard edged from the off than she was in the comic. And the entire season is confined to one location, rather than the road trip format the comic had.Yet as an adaptation it works, because - unless you're totally fanatical about the source material and can't abide changes - you will find it gets the themes and the characters in. And it has black humour over the top moments just like the comic did. So it's not a straight adapation, but it feels like Preacher.If you've never read the comic, none of the above will make sense. So just go with the second paragraph.This is stylised at times, but never too much, so that makes it very watchable. Dominic Cooper makes for a good lead and carries the show well. Ruth Negga's Tulip, as mentioned, is more hard edged and tough than Tulip from the comic was, but she is still a strong commanding player anyhow. She and Dominic Cooper do have a good chemistry. And it's a good job it did take so long for this to get made, thus Joseph Gilgun is now the right age to play Cassidy. A part that really could have been written for him.There are ten episdoes. Spread over four discs. The first is a double length season opener so runs almost an hour The next eight go for roughly forty three mins each [approx]. The season finale is fifty two minutes long.The season as a whole can be a bit of a slow burner early on. And the fourth episode doesn't feel like it goes many places. But after that a real narrative momentum develops. Culminating in an excellent final episode that sets the season for season two.It makes you laugh. It makes you think about some of the big questions of existence. It makes you say 'did they really just do that?'. And it does get you hooked on it's characters. This is Preacher. It could be adapted after all. The end results are great.Some scenes do have subtitles. Which can't be turned off.Each disc begins with a generic anti piracy ad, which can be skipped via the next button on the dvd remote.The box contains the usual flyer with a code to enter onto a website to get a digital copy of it onto digital devices.Languages: English, French, German.Subtitles: Arabic, Danish, English, Finnish, French, German, Norwegian, Polish, Swedish, Turkish.Extras:Disc one: the unflimable pilot. An interesting seven minute long look at the first episode, and the struggles to get it made.Five mins [approx] of deleted and extended scenes. Which can be watched individually or all in a row.Disc two: One minutes worth of deleted and extended scenes. Can be watched individually or all in a row.Disc three: Four minutes worth of deleted and extended scenes. Can be watched like those above.Disc four: the stunts of Preacher. A very interesting seven minute long look at how the fight scenes are coreographed.Four more minutes of deleted and extended scenes you watch the same way as above.

Sons

I have just started to watch this DVD series and so far it seems to be quite good. I will watch further and if it is as good as it seems be I will probably buy series 2, etc. Watch this space!

After Breaking Bad my husband and I had a void in our life. This series made us RENEW Amazon prime membership as it ran out three episodes in. The cast is utterly superb . The writing is slick, funny and loads of the best fighting scenes I've seen in a long time. It's so entertaining and it is the first series since Breaking Bad where all three main characters hold their own ! All equally good acting parts and to be honest Dominic Cooper is amazing as the Preacher. (Good eye candy for the ladies) and the Irish vampire is hilarious. The part that surprised me was the actress Ruth Negga . There's not a lot of genuine kick-ass acting parts for ladies and it's such a breath of fresh air that she is in this. This is a gem of a series . Seriously worth it for a buzz. Highly entertaining. I've not met anybody yet who hasn't enjoyed watching it

Oooooh, this IS good - very very good indeed :o) If I've said it before I'll say it again, TV nowadays is often producing far superior visual entertainment than the tripe that is being churned out of the Hollywood movie machine. Love the darkness, ferocity and the black comedy elements of this first season - hoping that season two will live up to the high standard set with by season. Forget all that 'Supernatural' and 'Buffy' rubbish - this is what we want when it comes to the fight between good and evil!

I really enjoyed the first season of ‘Preacher’. Great, somewhat strange characters, off the wall story line, Tarantino - Esque black comedy, modern western. Nicely filmed too, very colorful and with a very enjoyable sound track.

Thoroughly entertaining if you like your entertainment a little dark, surprising and zany.

Loads of people rave about this series. Personally I don't rate it that much. The characters are a bit stereotyped (apart from the vampire and he is just plain weird) and there is not really enough action for me in the episodes. I will not be buying season 2. I rated it as a 3 because it wasn't terrible but really could not rate it any higher.