By John Serba

So, anyone gonna take issue with The Punisher: One Last Kill (now streaming on Disney+) for featuring way, way (way!) more than one kill? Nah, probably not. This 51-minute one-off TV special boasts easily the most brutally violent stuff in the Marvel Cinematic Universe so far, with star Jon Bernthal once again playing the ruthless vigilante (and co-writing the script with director Reinaldo Marcus Green). It sort of/maybe bridges the gap between the character’s supporting turns in the first season of Daredevil: Born Again and the upcoming Spider-Man: Brand New Day movie, leading one to believe that angry l’il Pun-Pun is getting some nasty stabbing, neck-snapping and shooting out of his system before he’s forced to tone it down for a PG-13.

THE PUNISHER: ONE LAST KILL: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT? 

The Gist: Danzig’s “Mother” pumps on the soundtrack as Frank Castle (Bernthal) participates in the Punisher’s patented Extreme Self-Punishment Workout: Chowing pills, guzzling bourbon and doing pullups until you puke. In a bucket. One look at his sculpted torso tells us that, against all odds and also science, the routine seems to work. If only it boasted a stronger psychological component, since Frank seems to have found a new bottom beneath the bottom of the barrel. He’s in an OK now what phase of his life ever since he turned the Gnucci gangster family into worm food – the same batch of organized criminals who murdered his wife and kids. He rips down his Obsessive Guy bulletin board full of photos and string and red-Sharpie X’s over the crooks he successfully slaughtered, puts his fist into the mirror Martin Sheen-style and wonders what his purpose is now. He’s accomplished his ultimate life goals, and we’re witnessing the other side of it. And it’s dark as all heck.

Meanwhile, Frank’s NYC neighborhood has gone to pot-and-a-half. Goony pissants roam the streets bullying homeless people and killing their dogs for no reason, and humble donut-shopkeeps like Dre (Andre Royo, Bubs from The Wire!) fear for the safety of their families. Even the cops get their butts kicked around here. Frank walks outside and coldly ignores all the chaos. He routinely sees hallucinations of his former Marine buddies and dead friends and family members. He makes his way to the cemetery and plops next to the tombstones of his late beloveds and puts a pistol to his own temple. But then an apparition of his daughter (Addie Bernthal, Jon’s real-life daughter) appears, and he resists pulling the trigger.

This whole time, Frank has silently acknowledged the black car that’s been tailing him. Ma Gnucci (Judith Light) is inside, and I’d say she’s the only member of the crime family still standing, but it’d be insensitive because she’s in a wheelchair. Frank got his revenge and now she wants some too: She’s hired every crook in Little Sicily to kill him. Tonight. “I’m the one who’s doing the punishing now,” she sneers. Uh huh. Sure. We’ll see about that, lady.

What Movies Will It Remind You Of? Can you sequester a nigh-unkillable man in one building and sic a million-zillion bad guys on him without invoking The Raid? And for you MCU beancounters, One Last Kill is the third Marvel “special presentation” – read: stuff that doesn’t quite adhere to the franchise’s usual tonal/visual aesthetic, and functions tangentially to overarching MCU narratives – after Werewolf by Night and The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special. 

Performance Worth Watching: There’s little questioning Bernthal’s intensity here, even if he flirts with self-parody a little more than he should. But it warms the cockles to see Bubs From The Wire give the special a little character for a nice paycheck. Trivia: Royo is in rarified air, having played two different characters in the MCU, including an appearance in Agent Carter in 2015. 

Sex And Skin: None.

Our Take: Let’s just say the cruddy psycho-melodrama of the nonviolent portions of One Last Kill are a bit much – Bernthal’s bulging forehead veins and neck tendons likely needed their own dedicated spa day after principal photography wrapped, and he commits to a tortured howl, apparently deployed to strike fear into the Punisher’s foes, that’s scary but also kind of comical. He twitches and scratches and fidgets in a literal representation of a man uncomfortable in his own skin. It’s a deeply one-dimensional characterization, albeit one that’s admirable in its intensity.

But we’re not necessarily here for that, are we? The exaggerated depiction of mental illness is the setup for the second half of the special, which is a rip-roaring murderfest that lights the Punisher’s ass on fire, launching with an ironic deployment of Louis Armstrong’s “La Vie en Rose” and segueing into Hatebreed’s “I Will be Heard.” Subtle, it ain’t. But dynamic? For sure. This is Frank Castle-via-John Wick, or at least that’s what Bernthal and Green would like it to be; sturdy action choreography sometimes butts up against slicey-dicey edits, to middling effect, and the lack of inventive kills is assuaged by sheer velocity, volume and brutality. I’m not sure we’re convinced that Frank Castle is a new man when all is said and done, but he pretty much has to be lest he land on Spider-Man’s cutting-room floor. 

Our Call: Is the action good enough to give the humorless One Last Kill a pass? Yeah, just barely. So STREAM IT I guess, but you’ll be wise to temper your enthusiasm.

How To Watch The Punisher: One Last Kill

Disney+ offers a number of subscription options, so you can find the one that works for you. With ads, a subscription costs $11.99/month; without ads, it’s $18.99/month or $189.99/year.

There are also Disney+ bundles with Hulu, HBO Max, and ESPN+, so you can subscribe to up to three services at once and save over 40% every month. The bundles are available in a few different configurations, starting at $11.99/month for Disney+ and Hulu with ads, and going up to $32.99/month for Disney+, Hulu, and Max ad-free.

John Serba is a freelance film critic from Grand Rapids, Michigan. Werner Herzog hugged him once.