'The Punisher: One Last Kill' Is Short, Bloody and Basically Serves One Purpose

Frank Castle got a well-deserved solo outing during Marvel's Netflix era, introducing Jon Bernthal as the antihero in Daredevil first before a two-season series run that ended in 2019. As a fan, I missed this take on The Punisher/Castle and was excited for his return in season 1 of Daredevil: Born Again. Driven by revenge and a sort of righteous rage, he's a tortured soul whose precision in combat and carnage is the reason people watch. The Punisher: One Last Kill has every ounce of the brutal badassery -- and tragic figure aspects -- you want from Bernthal's character, but the short story may not be enough if you want something with more narrative bite.

Arriving Tuesday night on Disney Plus, the 48-minute Marvel special also stars Judith Light and Jason R. Moore, who's reprising his role as Curtis Hoyle. This isn't a movie, but more of an interlude to explain what Punisher has been up to since the end of Born Again's first season. It opens with Frank working out in a dimly lit apartment, where a kill board with strategically placed red X's lives. Guess he's been busy pursuing his personal goals, which, coincidentally, sets off a chain of violence that plagues Little Sicily, where the story is set. No one is safe here. No one and nothing.

Hearing Frank recite the Marines' Reconnaissance Creed 5 minutes into the show signaled this was about to be something serious. Haunted by ghosts from his past, Frank is experiencing psychological challenges that justify the on-screen crisis hotline support message posted for the audience. This unfolds over the first 20 minutes before he's tossed into a John Wick 3 scenario with a free-for-all bounty on his head. Then the bloody action begins -- and ends.