As Frank Castle on two seasons of the Netflix series, The Punisher (and appearances on the Daredevil series as well), Jon Bernthal made the Marvel character something powerful. The actor’s intensity and aggressive style was a good fit for the skull vest-wearing father to a slain family. With the hour-long “Marvel special television presentation”, The Punisher: One Last Kill, Bernthal continues the character’s badass journey of revenge and vigilantism.

Written by Bernthal and director Reinaldo Marcus Green, The Punisher: One Last Kill is basically a short film that plays like a so-so episode of the series. There’s a lot of action (some of it is fun), but there is too much wasted time on moments we have already experienced through two seasons of the Punisher series.

Frank misses his family every waking moment and he is near suicidal by the thought of their slaughter at the hands of those he once trusted. There are multiple scenes where Frank sits alone with tears in his eyes as he finds it impossible to come to terms with the murders of his wife and children. Memories haunt him, as if he can still feel them next to him. He cries and apologizes and swears he is nothing without them.

Been there.

Frank battles the rage of finally unleashing vengeance on those responsible and now finds no outlet for the violence inside. It frustrates him to the point of giving up on everything.

Done that.

Castle lives in Little Sicily; an area of New York that has fallen into chaos. Gangs rule the streets and random acts of violence on innocent folks are happening almost every second.

In the special’s best moment, Frank walks through the streets, violence erupting around him, while Robert Elswit’s camera captures the mayhem (just out of focus) as Frank moves through, untouched. He ignores every bit of it, as the broken Castle has decided to become a ghost. He wants to care, but he just can’t anymore. It’s one hell of a shot and a great moment.

The plot for the one-off/episode/show/special shall not be revealed here. In truth, there isn’t much plot to spoil. For reasons viewers will discover, Castle finds himself a hunted man.

Been there.

At one point, he is trapped in his high rise apartment building, as the streets come for him and he must fight his way out.

Done that.

The sequence (which DOES feature some good fight choreography) plays as an homage (of sorts) to Gareth Evans’ action masterwork, The Raid. Fun stuff, but homage to Evans’ film was already paid in 2012’s Dredd featuring Karl Urban as the titular futuristic law enforcement officer who must fight his way out of a building where everyone is after him.

Another deficit is the ridiculous and unnecessary use of needle drops. Every time a fight commences, an ironic use of a 50s crooner song or a heavy metal cut is played over the action.

Using songs in ironic ways while violence and bloodletting occurs is long past the expiration date. The music here really hurts the final product, such as it is.

The possibilities for The Punisher’s storyline are endless. Here is a character who is designed as a mixture of Charles Bronson and Rambo, yet this special presentation does nothing new with him, nor furthers his arc. If you know everything about Frank Castle and have seen the series, you will find no treasure here.

Because Hollywood doesn’t give a whit about surprises anymore, it is widely known that Castle will be a part of the next Spider-Man film. It would have been fruitful to set that up a little more, or at all.

The Punisher: One Last Kill is both a misleading title and a desperate grasp for one last solo ride from Marvel’s most hardcore vigilante.

Is it bad? No. Is it good? Not really.

Well, what is it? Pointless. Utterly, pointless. 

 

The Punisher: One Last Kill
Written by Reinaldo Marcus Green & Jon Bernthal
Directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green
Starring Jon Bernthal, Andre Royo, Judith Light
TV-MA, 60 Minutes, Marvel Studios, Marvel Television