The Punisher: One Last Kill: Review

Cast: Jon Bernthal, Judith Light
Director: Reinaldo Marcus Green

To say there's a grittiness and bleak edges to the latest Marvel one-shot special is a major understatement.

With The Punisher's disappearance from the second series of the brilliant Daredevil: Born Again and upcoming reappearance in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, this 48-minute special forms a bridge between the two and shows Jon Bernthal's Frank as his absolute darkest - and lowest.

Having dispatched the Gnucci family who were responsible for his own family's demise, Frank finds himself holed up in a building block in Little Sicily, searching for a purpose, struggling with the ghosts of his former Marine colleagues and contemplating the ultimate sacrifice.

But when Ma Gnucci (Judith Light) appears on the scene threatening retribution, Frank's suddenly fighting for his life in an area that's been claimed as part of a power vacuum after his actions. With every mercenary on the block on his tail, it's only a matter of time before he has to make a choice about his own future.

It would be unfair to say that The Punisher: One Last Kill follows a very similar redemption arc - but in truth, that's what this special does for Frank, as he contemplates his own sense of purpose and self. With darkness swirling all around him, there's a brooding nature to the start of this that's intensely claustrophobic.

However, the show soon devolves into a take on The Raid's intense internal fight scenes before spilling out onto the streets in some truly blistering action sequences. This is a special one-off that has an exceptionally high body count and even has the tenacity to kill off a dog in a sickening way in its opening moments.

There's little character development here and while the opening scenes see Castle dealing with his demons, there's not much room for Bernthal to exault much acting muscle, other than screaming, powerlifting and also look lost. He does all of this well, but it's really in the intense action scenes that this comes alive in a blood-spattered way.

There are moments when you doubt the outcome and the meeting between the Punisher and Ma Gnucci's MCU debut is deftly handled given the run-time and the narrative arc.

All in all, The Punisher: One Last Kill has the kind of violent feel that's been lacking in the MCU - but with the added psychological twist that this is a man fighting back from the edge of his very soul, it's a solidly watchable and bleakly entertaining piece of TV.

The Punisher: One Last Kill is streaming on Disney+ on Wednesday, May 13.