“Punisher: One Last Kill” is anything but.
To put it plainly, Jon Bernthal‘s anti-hero Punisher does a lot of killing in his Marvel Special Presentation. A whole lot. But layered into the over-the-top violence is a powerful character study of a PTSD-addled veteran who has lost nearly everything. Bernthal’s vengeance-fueled performance as Frank Castle has been a highlight in the MCU since he debuted a decade ago, but this time he’s pushed to his breaking point in a tense 48-minute special.
To recount Bernthal’s entire MCU journey almost requires its own TV special, but here goes. He started as the Punisher in Season 2 of Netflix’s “Daredevil” TV show, which was part of a mini, pre-Disney+ Marvel universe that followed “street-level” heroes like Daredevil, Jessica Jones and Luke Cage. Like the comics, Bernthal’s Punisher was a loose-cannon, gun-toting vigilante overflowing with grief from the shocking murders of his wife and children. He crossed paths with Charlie Cox’s Daredevil and clashed immediately over the hero’s no-killing rule.
Bernthal followed up his scene-stealing turn on “Daredevil” with his own standalone “Punisher” series on Netflix, which ran for two seasons. It expanded Castle’s world and explored who he is outside of his homicidal rampage (Answer: a lost, tortured soul). Once Marvel’s Netflix shows were canceled, they moved to Disney+ in 2022 — putting the M-rated “Punisher” and family-friendly shows like “Bluey” on the same platform. The Netflix heroes made their full MCU return with last year’s “Daredevil: Born Again” continuation, which brought Bernthal’s Punisher back into the fold with a guest appearance and some brutal fight scenes.
In the six-year break between shows, Castle became even more reclusive and unstable. Now, “One Last Kill” shows what made him put his skull-painted armor back on and reload his never-ending cache of guns. The TV special opens with Bernthal working out in a room mostly empty except for a wall of newspaper clippings taped together in true conspiracy-theorist fashion. Outside, New York City is in mayhem. Gang members attack innocent bystanders, set police cars ablaze and even throw a puppy into traffic (Haven’t they seen “John Wick”?).
The chaos is a perfect representation of Castle’s mind. The years of trauma catch up to him, and he begins seeing hallucinations of his murdered family and Marine comrades. Bernthal snaps and unleashes Castle’s anguish in a powerful scene at his family’s gravesite. It’s a hauntingly moving scene that most action blockbusters, no matter how tortured their macho protagonists are, wouldn’t dare show — much less a Marvel movie that normally punctuates shootouts with punchlines.
From there, the violence lets loose like a firehose. Judith Light plays Ma Gnucci, the wheelchair-bound matriarch of a crumbling crime family, who sets out on her own revenge quest against Castle after a flashback shows he killed her son. The city’s criminals descend on Castle, and he must spring into action and use everything at his disposal to protect himself. Bernthal survives a gasoline immolation, dynamite explosion and rooftop plummet, not to mention countless gunshots and stab wounds. The fight scenes are non-stop and take him up and around his apartment building to the mobbed streets below. Bernthal turns into a one-man army whose hardship somehow protects him from the pain, giving him the resolve to push through any attacker.
Despite his blood-soaked mission, Castle isn’t all guns and testosterone. He still looks out for the innocent, and there’s a touching moment between him and a young girl he saved, plus he gets revenge on the puppy-killer. “One Last Kill” isn’t a happy ending for him, but rather a fitting interlude for Marvel’s brutal anti-hero. (It still remains to be seen how the M-rated Punisher will fit into this summer’s very PG-13 “Spider-Man: Brand New Day”). Marvel tiptoed into adult content with the already-established “Deadpool & Wolverine,” but there aren’t any *NSYNC needle-drops or quippy one-liners to lessen the intensity of Punisher’s psyche and savagery. But thanks to Bernthal finally letting loose, “One Last Kill” cements his Punisher as one of Marvel’s most singular performances.
