THE PUNISHER: ONE LAST KILL
Starring: Jon Bernthal, Jason R. Moore, Andre Royo, John Douglas Thompson, Mila Jaymes, and Judith Light
Director: Reinaldo Marcus Green
AMARÚ
The Punisher: One Last Kill is the glossiest looking thing I’ve ever seen Jon Bernthal’s Frank Castle take part in. Which is crazy, because this special presentation is anything but. Never did I think that the most realistic look into Castle’s harrowing and traumatic psyche would be presented by Disney, but here we are in this fever dream of sorrow washed down by chaotic action littered with innocent bystanders. Director Reinaldo Marcus Green drops the audience into pandemonium with no prelude, no conclusion, just a brief glimpse into the pain Bernthal impressively uncovers with his emotionally tortured performance. Intense doesn’t begin to cover this.
ROBERT
Marvel Television has been, shall we say, flawed for most of its five-year Disney Plus run, but one facet that’s generally loved is the Special Presentations. Right on the heels of Daredevil: Born Again, we’re treated to a delightful romp from noticeable absentee, Frank Castle (Jon Bernthal), in The Punisher: One Last Kill. And by “delightful”, I mean harrowing. One half is dedicated to Frank’s tenuous grip on reality and its precipitous slide, and the other half to him finding comfort in brutality. While the story is light, the emotionality and weight give you the clearest picture of this character ever. Buckle up, Spidey!
NICK
As someone who considers Netflix's The Punisher to be on par with its Daredevil series, I was looking forward to the Disney Plus take. Although Jon Bernthal is once again great as Frank Castle, the story here feels incomplete. Despite its name, The Punisher: One Last Kill feels more like a prologue to something more, as beyond its setup, it offers little more than high-energy fight sequences. Sure, it can be entertaining, but more often than not this just feels like a lesser John Wick, and with all due respect, a Frank Castle story should be more layered than that.
