REVIEW: 'The Punisher: One Last Kill' scores a direct hit
Conspicuously absent from Daredevil Born Again Season 2 after making his triumphant MCU return in Season 1, the Punisher (Jon Bernthal), is back for One Last Kill, a standalone special that made its bow on Disney+ last week. While early speculation had the special focusing on the erstwhile Frank Castle’s efforts to destabilize the Kingpin’s organization, this is very much a solo affair. At the same time, anyone hoping for clues as to the Punisher’s role in the upcoming Spider-Man: Brand New Day are equally out of luck, as the story concentrates on adapting the acclaimed Welcome Back, Frank (2000-2001) storyline from the comics.
In One Last Kill, Frank wages a one-man war against the Gnucci Crime Family in the heart of New York’s Little Sicily, eliminating foes with brutal efficiency. As the body count grows, Frank finds himself increasingly tormented by the ghosts of his past. But when the Gnucci’s matriarch (Judith Light) puts out a bounty on The Punisher, Frank will find himself in his enemies’ crosshairs like never before.
Disconnected from the mainline MCU, One Last Kill never lets us know when in the timeline it occurs, and without any costumed heroes around, or an Anti-Vigilante Taskforce waiting to take them out, it could take place pretty much anywhere in the Punisher’s canon. Of course, the mere fact that Bernthal’s Punisher is even starring in a special speaks volumes, given that the actor famously refused to return to his signature role unless it was treated with the same verisimilitude as his Netflix iteration.
Indeed, when it was originally announced that Charlie Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio would be the only Netflix actors appearing in Daredevil: Born Again, it seemed like Bernthal was out for good. Thankfully, when Born Again underwent a massive revamp midway through shooting to embrace the Netflix Marvel shows, Bernthal’s Punisher (along with several other beloved characters) was back in the mix, and the rest was history.
Which brings us to One Last Kill. This may be an MCU production, but, like Born Again before it, it is in no way a family affair; the action and themes here are almost unrelentingly brutal, elevating the Punisher’s signature hyperviolence to John Wick-levels of sustained action, while taking place almost completely within a housing complex reminiscent of The Raid. The kills are efficient in their viciousness, made doubly visceral by the primal, almost animalistic ferocity that Bernthal has always brought to the part. Despite the co-opting of his trademark symbol that’s taken place both on-screen and in the real world, Frank Castle remains a man staunchly dedicated to protecting the innocent, as well as someone you do not want to f**k around with.
If the story sounds simple, it is, though what what we get here is pretty great; running a lean 48 minutes, we check in on Frank’s fractured psyche, and his ongoing anguish over the murders of his loved ones, including wife Maria (Kelli Barrett), and daughter Lisa (played here by Bernthal’s real-life daughter, Addie). At the same time, Frank is haunted by hallucinations of those who’d previously tried to help him heal, namely Karen Page (Deborah Ann Woll) and former squadmate Curtis (Jason R. Moore).
Character-wise, there aren’t a lot of new faces, though Judith Light as Frank’s nemesis du jour, Ma Gnucci, does manage to put in an appropriately spiteful performance. While it would have been nice to see more of her and her sons, the Punisher has never really needed a reason to hunt criminals, so it’s probably a moot point.
In Bernthal’s hands, Frank’s torment and anguish are palpable, though much of this ground has been covered before, whether in his original solo series or his multiple guest appearances up to the present. That being said, One Last Kill feels like a deliberate reintroduction to the character, serving not so much as a follow-up to his Born Again appearances, but as a proof of concept for more solo adventures. If that’s truly the case, and Disney is, in fact, finally willing to explore the street-level heroes of the MCU, it could provide the much-needed course correction that fans have been waiting for since, well, Avengers: Endgame.
Thus far, Punisher: One Last Kill and Daredevil: Born Again have succeeded brilliantly at delivering action-packed, emotional thrill rides that do their characters justice, while leaving the door open for future adventures. If anyone had told us ten years ago that the MCU’s future hopes lay in an unrepentant vigilante and a blind lawyer, it would have sounded like the ramblings of a lunatic, but here we are.
Welcome back, Frank.