Frank Castle got a well-deserved solo outing during Marvel’s Netflix era, introducing Jon Bernthal as the antihero in Daredevil first before a two-season series run that ended in 2019. As a fan, I missed this take on The Punisher/Castle and was excited for his return in season 1 of Daredevil: Born Again. Driven by revenge and a sort of righteous rage, he’s a tortured soul whose precision in combat and carnage is the reason people watch. The Punisher: One Last Kill has every ounce of the brutal badassery — and tragic figure aspects — you want from Bernthal’s character, but the short story may not be enough if you want something with more narrative bite.
Arriving Tuesday night on Disney Plus, the 48-minute Marvel special also stars Judith Light and Jason R. Moore, who’s reprising his role as Curtis Hoyle. This isn’t a movie, but more of an interlude to explain what Punisher has been up to since the end of Born Again’s first season. It opens with Frank working out in a dimly lit apartment, where a kill board with strategically placed red X’s lives. Guess he’s been busy pursuing his personal goals, which, coincidentally, sets off a chain of violence that plagues Little Sicily, where the story is set. No one is safe here. No one and nothing.
Hearing Frank recite the Marines’ Reconnaissance Creed 5 minutes into the show signaled this was about to be something serious. Haunted by ghosts from his past, Frank is experiencing psychological challenges that justify the on-screen crisis hotline support message posted for the audience. This unfolds over the first 20 minutes before he’s tossed into a John Wick 3 scenario with a free-for-all bounty on his head. Then the bloody action begins — and ends.
Frank’s dealing with painful memories from his past in The Punisher: One Last Kill.
Make no mistake, this Punisher/Frank is suffering and conflicted. Viewers walk with him on this personal journey that takes him outside of his dim room and outside of his mental discomfort. Bernthal’s performance is as gritty as ever, exposing Frank’s emotional vulnerability, giving his softer side a chance to shine while delivering a vicious sequence of him facing off against adversaries.
I’ve said before that it’s a treat watching Frank Castle beat people up. The no-nonsense, fearless on-the-spot destruction is his trademark, and is as entertaining to watch as any Jason Statham movie, or fictional killers like the aforementioned Wick, Power’s Tommy Egan or Klaus Mikaelson (IYKYK). That’s what most fans sign up for when watching Marvel’s Punisher on TV — or in the upcoming Spider-Man: Brand New Day.
It’s great to catch up with Frank in this way as season 2 of Daredevil: Born Again played out, and before we see him with Spidey; that’s what this episode seemingly intended to do. The intensity and rough-and-tumble raw action in The Punisher: One Last Kill is superb, and by the end, we’re reminded of exactly who the Punisher is, but the story leaves one wanting much more.
The special debuts tonight on Disney Plus at 6 p.m. PT/9 p.m. ET.