Marvel Studios and President Kevin Feige have taken a rather intriguing approach over the years. Their projects — huge undertakings with years of supporting material and hundreds of millions of dollars worth of backing — are often placed in the hands of filmmakers whose resumes don’t exactly live up to the mammoth task of handling such expectation. Sometimes, this works! But other times — maybe more often than not — they fall flat on their face. For every Ryan Coogler (Black Panther, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever), there’s a Cate Shorthand (Black Widow). For every Joe and Anthony Russo (Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame), there’s an Alan Taylor (Thor: The Dark World). For every Jake Schreier (Thunderbolts, Upcoming X-Men Movie), there’s a Julius Onah (Captain America: Brave New World) — you get the idea. For every unearthed gem with whom the studio forms a long and fruitful relationship, there’s a critical and box office flop that has fans and critics alike asking the same question: Is this really the best they could get?
So, what happens when Feige’s random director generator (RDG) malfunctions and spurts out director of six-time Academy Award nominated film, King Richard, Reinaldo Marcus Green, and acclaimed cinematographer Robert Elswit (There Will Be Blood, Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol, Nightcrawler)? The Punisher: One Last Kill answers that question, but you might not like the answer.
Just one week removed from the second season finale of Daredevil: Born Again, and only two months away from Frank Castle’s return to the big screen in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, comes a Disney Plus special presentation akin to that of the Michael Giacchino-directed Werewolf by Night from 2022 — rounding out a week of Bernthal-written media following the surprise drop of The Bear prequel episode, Gary.
Where Gary succeeded, though,* The Punisher: One Last Kill* fails miserably. With a hollow and confused script that hides its emptiness behind a handful of John Wick-Esque action sequences that do undeniably provide the high-octane action thrills that the character has become synonymous with. Unfortunately, this isn’t enough to distract from the dialogue that feels if not written by Bernthal himself, then quite possibly his adolescent daughter who, too, features in the project. Perhaps best encapsulated by a line spoken by Judith Light as Ma Gnucci: “I’m the one who’s doing the PUNISHING now”. Say that again…
The project is at its best and most entertaining when Bernthal is allowed to let loose as Frank Castle, wielding weapons and taking heads off as the criminal underworld of Little Sicily attempts to claim the bounty placed on his head by the matriarch of the Gnucci Crime Family, Ma Gnucci — the only remaining member of the crime syndicate that Castle had not laid waste to. The family’s destruction represented the end of a battle dating back as far as Castle’s first appearance in season 2 of Netflix’s Daredevil all the way back in 2016: A quest to avenge his family’s murder through abolishing all those involved in their death. And with those loose ends now finally tied up, the reasoning for the presentation’s existence comes to light; Castle’s battle with his inner demons and search for purpose in a world that no longer has anything to offer him. But it’s in this idea that the project exposes its thinness, with the present themes of loneliness and mental health too big for its 50-minute runtime — never truly digging beneath the surface enough to have anything especially interesting or relevant to say. A noble-intentioned effort, executed with all the grace of a reversing dump truck without any tyres on.
When not attempting to make an underbaked statement on the state of men's mental health, what we get can be a barrel of fun. Bernthal’s intense performance style and action-hero chops shine through to remind us all of why his iteration of the character can breathe life into any scene he’s inserted into, and especially why we should be excited to see his relationship with Tom Holland’s Peter Parker unfold this July.
If you’re a fan of what Bernthal has brought to this character, you’ll be sure to get enough kicks out of this to warrant your time — fun kills, intense sequences, and heavy metal needle drops. But what’s left on the table is the makings of what could have been a much more nuanced and ultimately complete piece of work.