The Punisher: One Last Kill Review: Marvel's Violent Special Has Lots Of Style, But Not Much Else
by Jeremy Mathai · /FilmWhen star Jon Bernthal first arrived on the scene as the guns-blazing vigilante Frank Castle in Season 2 of Netflix's semi-canonical "Daredevil" series, fans were quick to pick up on an obvious truth. After striking gold the first time, under no circumstances do you then go on to waste a casting as perfect as this one. The studio avoided doing just that, having him reprise his role in the revival series "Daredevil: Born Again" and officially bring the Punisher into the MCU fold. But just when it seemed like Season 2 provided another ideal opportunity to drag him back into the action, Marvel pivoted to a different tried-and-true approach instead: the one-off "Special Presentation."
It's a curious choice that, to its credit, has resulted in some of the coolest and most experimental efforts in the entire MCU. Both "The Guardians Of The Galaxy Holiday Special" and the black-and-white "Werewolf by Night" gave storytellers the chance to flex their muscles, expand beyond our preconceptions of what this franchise "ought" to be, and deliver something we've never seen from this superhero sandbox before. For those of us tired by the constraints of four-quadrant blockbusters and who paled at the thought of devoting eight hours to middling streaming TV, this was the best possible middle ground.
On the surface, "The Punisher: One Last Kill" lives up to that hype as a gory, standalone, and dark rumination on the tortured man underneath that skull symbol. The only problem is, well, there's nothing beyond that surface. Neither long enough to tell us anything we didn't know about the antihero, nor interesting enough to merit this brief detour, this special ends up the exact opposite of its title character: inessential, forgettable, and, at worst, a cautionary tale of superhero stories that are never allowed to end.
Jon Bernthal has never been better as Frank Castle
Where in the world is Frank Castle? After escaping the clutches of the villainous Wilson Fisk (Vincent D'Onofrio) in the "Daredevil: Born Again" Season 1 finale, the Punisher sat out the second season to do ... God knows what. Build a nice Zen garden to get away from it all and do some much-needed meditation? Mentally prepare for his upcoming battle with Tom Holland's motor-mouthed Spider-Man in "Brand New Day"? Maybe go to therapy instead of gunning down hordes of bad guys on a never-ending quest for vengeance?
The answer offered by "The Punisher: One Last Kill" turns out to be "None of the above," apparently. When we catch up with Frank, it's in a seriously dark place. Shirtless, bearded, and sporting a crazed look in his bloodshot eyes, the vigilante has managed to gun down all the criminal organizations involved in the murders of his family (as seen in Netflix's "The Punisher" series). That's hardly made matters any better for him, however. Holed up in a dingy apartment, he's too busy working himself out until he literally bleeds and staving off hallucinations of his former Marine squad to live anything remotely resembling a peaceful life.
This early section of the special gives director Reinaldo Marcus Green the juiciest material to work with, crafting a claustrophobic and nightmarish headspace for the now-former Punisher. Having previously worked together on the 2022 HBO miniseries "We Own This City," Green takes things in a more emotional direction and Bernthal is more than up to the task. Where the script (which the actor co-wrote with Green) tends to leave most things unsaid, he physically lays it all on the line. Quite simply, Bernthal has never been better as Frank.
The Punisher: One Last Kill is a tale of two halves
If only the rest of "The Punisher: One Last Kill" could've maintained the same momentum and narrative drive as its first twenty minutes. After beginning with an extraordinary amount of patience and restraint, somberly walking viewers through what's easily the most sobering chapter of Frank Castle's traumatic life, the story grinds to an abrupt stop and almost reluctantly switches gears — all to give everyone the blood-soaked action they've been waiting for. Not coincidentally, this is also where the special devolves into a thinly-veiled excuse to have the Punisher mow down an entire apartment complex-worth of criminals for the sheer spectacle of it.
Not that this is completely without entertainment value, mind you. Although fans looking forward to the actual character study that "One Last Kill" purports itself to be will inevitably prefer the first half, the latter amounts to some of the best action ever captured in any MCU installment. The bulk of the headlines will focus on Jon Bernthal's incredible physicality, the various stuntmen who throw themselves through doors and light themselves on fire and fling themselves off rooftops to get the perfect shot, and the refreshing decision to shoot as much on location in New York City as possible — and rightfully so.
But legendary director of photography Robert Elswit ("Punch-Drunk Love," "There Will Be Blood," "Inherent Vice") is the true genius behind all the carnage. Whether it's Frank screaming at ghosts from his past captured in a hazy and dreamlike lens or handheld footage of hallways and stairwells and streets littered with victims-in-waiting or a particularly inspired "oner" showcasing the level of crime consuming Frank's neighborhood, we're placed right in the middle of the action with hardly a moment to catch our breath.
The Punisher: One Last Kill runs out of steam and never fully regains it
Ultimately, "The Punisher: One Last Kill" can't outrun expectations of an audience conditioned to expect straightforward action (and almost mind-numbing amounts of it) ... or its obligations to a broader universe that treats these characters with all the nuance and flexibility of an action figure. The Punisher can't simply recede into the background and quietly come to terms with his profound loss or lack of purpose, no matter how much this story and his arc clearly demand such a resolution. He has to go right back to the status quo of shooting at villains and superheroes alike in "Spider-Man: Brand New Day," after all, and the needs of the overall Marvel Cinematic Universe outweigh the needs of everything else.
So, instead of an introspective journey putting a much-deserved button on the tragedy of Frank Castle, the rest of the special bends over backwards putting him in position to become the merciless, cold-blooded Punisher of old for what feels like the umpteenth time. Any attempt at moral ambiguity or thematic meaning is drowned out by the cacophony of bullets, the self-indulgent tone, and the grungy, edgelord rock music serving as Frank's thuddingly literal soundtrack to much of the action. Not even Bernthal's Herculean efforts, a welcome supporting turn by "The Wire" standout Andre Royo, or all the comically overwrought flashbacks in the world can get this train back on the tracks.
What starts as a promising, street-level perspective on a tiny corner of Manhattan (accomplished far more convincingly than "Daredevil: Born Again" ever managed to do) eventually goes the way of pretty much anything else the MCU touches: an empty vessel for more empty spectacle to come.
/Film Rating: 5 out of 10
"The Punisher: One Last Kill" debuts on Disney+ Tuesday, May 12, 2026 at 9pm ET.