By Dan Skip Allen

The Punisher, aka Frank Castle, has been one of the most hit or miss Marvel film properties over the years. The less I talk about the Dolph Lundgren version,  the better. The Thomas Jane version, including John Travolta as  Howard Saint, wasn’t exactly The Punisher, as far as I’m concerned, but Ray Stevenson’s version, RIP, was much more like the coming book character. Even the villain, Jigsaw, played by Dominic West, was a pretty comic realistic character. Stevenson was fantastic as this man who sought revenge for the death of his family. The violence this character headed out on his nemesis was the best in the series thus far. Even though I loved that version, I would say the Jon Bernthall version is a bit more realistic of a portrayal of this tormented character. He first appeared on the Netflix Daredevil series and later got his own show for two seasons. Now, this depiction of the character still portrayed by Jon Berthall has gotten his own Marvel Special Presentation, “The Punisher: One Last Kill”.   It’s a bit different from Frank Castle /The Punisher than audiences have seen before. 

This time around, Bernthall’s Frank Castle is dealing with a mental illness revolving around depression and mourning the loss of his family. He has visions from the past and sees past members of his elite Marine team. Specifically, he sees Curtis Hoyle (Jason D Moore). Who says “what’s your path now Marine”. Along with others. He also hears voices of his deceased family members. When he visits their graveside and headstone at the graveyard, it accentuates matters for him. When a woman named Ma Gnucci (Judith Light) approaches Frank in the street and tells him who she is and why she wants revenge for the death of her deceased family members. Things change for Frank, and the true nature of the Punisher finally comes out. It’s not pretty for those who are in his path of destruction.

There is one connection to the past as Deborah Ann Wohl returns as Karen Page, and she gives Frank a word of advice. She helped him a bit in the Netflix series, and later, he appeared in Daredevil: Born Again Season 1. This connection proved to viewers that this is the same Frank Castle from the Netflix shows and now continues into the Disney+ era. Even though this is a very violent character, Disney and Marvel Studios aren’t shying away from the violent nature of the character with plenty of blood and guts to go around. This is what the Netflix series was able to give viewers, and that is the same here. Reinaldo Marcus Green, the director and co-writer, and Berthall teamed up to bring the true qualities fans of the character have been waiting for since the Netflix years.

I think a lot of film aficionados are familiar with or have seen “The Raid/The Raid 2”. They are action films with a lot of gun fu, if you will, in them. Anybody that knows anything about Frank Castle/The Punisher, then you know he is very handy with many different types of dangerous weapons.This Marvel Special Presentation goes from a psychological think piece to a bloody gorefest at the hands of Marcus Green and Bernthall. They turned this 48-minute film into a revenge fueled rampage. I love a good bloody action film even when it’s only 48 minutes long. They got the gist of what they wanted to get across by having these two distinct parts of this story. 

“The Punisher: One Last Kill” will give viewers a bit of violence, a lot of bloody kills, and Frank Castle brooding about the loss of his loved ones years ago. In the form of depression as well as hearing voices and seeing visions. Marcus Green and Bernthall crafted a story based on the Garth Ennis, Steve Dillon, and Jimmy Palmiotti comic book story known as “The Punisher: Welcome Back Frank” that has become their own story. It was very different from what I’ve seen before from any version of this long-running comic book character on the big or small screen. Berthall has made this character his own and has infused it with a lot of depth and layers. Which a lot of comic book characters don’t have on the big or small screen. I quite enjoyed where he went with the character. Hopefully, fans will get more of him as this character after “Spider-man: Brand New Day” in either “Daredevil: Born Again” Season 3 or his own Disney + series. I think this needs to happen.

4 stars