Unfinished Business

There was a time where the very thought of a The PunisherAn anti-hero who was never meant to be a hero in the same way as the Avengers, the Punisher has taken on his own life in pop-culture, but that doesn't change the troubling qualities to his characterization. movie or television show filled me with dread. He’s not a character I generally gel with, a hype-violent killer that seemingly encourages brutal vigilantism. In a world of superheroes, he almost feels like a parody… except for the fact that so many far-right assholes have glommed onto the character, treating his mission to kill every criminal as if it was some moral right they should all have (completely missing what point the character did have). He was a character I actively avoided because the very concept, along with the real world impact of his character, wasn’t something I wanted to see or read.

And then along came Daredevil: Season 2 over on NetflixOriginally started as a disc-by-mail service, Netflix has grown to be one of the largest media companies in the world (and one of the most valued internet companies as well). With a constant slate of new internet streaming-based programming that updates all the time, Netflix has redefined what it means to watch TV and films (as well as how to do it)., and suddenly a character I didn’t care about became one I wanted to watch. That was thanks, in large part, to the performance by Jon Bernthal as Frank Castle / Punisher. He had a lot of depth and raw energy in his performance, making him probably the best on screen Punisher we’ve ever had. It’s no wonder they spun him off into his own series, which they got a second season, nor that he was one of the most requested characters to return in the >Daredevil: Born Again revival.

But just having him cameo in someone else’s show wasn’t enough. What people really wanted was John Bernthal’s Frank Castle back, headlining his own project. And that’s what we have here, a special Marvel Cinematic UniverseWhen it first began in 2008 with a little film called Iron Man no one suspected the empire that would follow. Superhero movies in the past, especially those not featuring either Batman or Superman, were usually terrible. And yet, Iron Man would lead to a long series of successful films, launching the most successful cinema brand in history: the Marvel Cinematic Universe. one-shot, The Punisher: One Last Kill. Set at a tight 51 minutes, this new special is, more or less, what fans of the character want. Frank, troubled, trying to find his way in the world, while dishing out sweet, bloody justice to any criminal stupid enough to cross his path. It’s not a perfect project for the vigilante, in large part because it’s less than an hour and we could easily do with so much more. But as a first taste of hopefully future installments with the Punisher in the MCU, The Punisher: One Last Kill easily gets the job done in violent fashion.

When we meet up with Frank (at some, unclear and indeterminate point in his timeline), he’s just taken out the last of the Gnucci mob family, killing the last of the people responsible for the deaths of his family. While the job, he thinks, is done, it does leave him tetherless, trapped in his own head without even his guiding mission to define him. Who is he if he doesn’t have the goal of avenging his family? Does he even want to keep going without his wife, son, and daughter anymore. He struggles to keep it all together, on the verge of suicide.

But he is pulled from his reverie when he gets a visit from Ma Gnucci (Judith Light). Having tracked Frank down to his apartment building in Little Sicily, NYC, she confronts him and declares she’s just like him. She, too, lost all her family when a murderer came around and killed them, one by one. She, of course, means Frank, and because of his actions she’s put a bounty on his head. At 6:47 PM every violent maniac in the city will descend on his apartment building, looking to kill Frank, and she’s going to watch. For Frank, it’s kill or be killed because, suddenly, he has a job to do once again.

The Punisher: One Last Kill is the epitome of a one-shot. If this were in comic form it would be a slightly longer issue, set up to tell a single, self-contained story as an easy way for new readers to jump on with the character before getting into a new arc. And, effectively, that’s what the episode does for a (theoretical) new television series that could come down the pike. Anyone that didn’t watch the Netflix show (which is currently available to stream on Disney+Disney's answer in the streaming service game, Disney+ features the studio's (nearly) full back catalog, plus new movies and shows from the likes of the MCU and Star Wars., alongside this one-shot special) can meet the character, see what he’s all about, and then decide if they want to go back and watch more (and watch him again when he shows up in Spider-man: Brand New Day, out later in the year).

On that front I think the special does really well. It’s a solid introduction to the character, letting us see the troubled man behind the skull vest. Bernthal’s version of the character is dark and troubled, but there’s a pathos to the character as well. The special does a good job of illustrating why he does what he does, what he lost and what it cost him. It gets to the core of his character so that he’s more than just a violent killer. He’s also that, but the special very clearly shows the depth of the character that Bernthal has been able to add in all of his appearances.

With that said, this special is really slimmed down and doesn’t offer a lot of meat beyond the character study and some action. Fifty-ish minutes isn’t a lot of time to (re)introduce a character, inform us of his backstory, introduce a villain to stand opposite him, and get in all that much story. In fact, arguably there’s barely any story here at all. Frank is troubled, he struggles with his mental health, and then people try to kill him. That’s really all there is to it. Anyone looking for Frank getting involved in a criminal case, working to tear down an entire family won’t get that here. That happened off screen before the special even started. We just get the aftermath. This isn’t a deep special by any means.

Hell, it doesn’t even really tie up its story. Without getting into spoilers, all that the special really resolves is Frank’s tower defense at his apartment building. There’s more story that could have been delved into, more for Frank to do outside this one action sequence, but the special doesn’t follow up on that. One has to assume that if there’s a series to come (treating this like a pilot for a longer series of Frank adventures) it will continue the storyline set up here. Although maybe not. We have no clue where on the MCU timeline this special takes place so it’s entirely possible that by the next time we watch up with Frank everything here will be in his past and he’ll have moved on to some other storyline. Who knows?

That then speaks to the next big issue with this special: it’s very slight. While the segment of Frank’s life we get here is great as a taste for the vigilante, it really doesn’t offer much to fans of the Punisher that were already on board. We get some action, which is pretty solid (the entire back half of the special is one long, very satisfying, action sequence), and more time with the character, but that doesn’t feel like nearly enough. If the character comes back with some new storyline, this special completely forgotten, I wouldn’t be at all surprised. There’s so little going on here, outside character work and action, that none of it ever has to be referenced again. It’s just a teaser when fans really would love more.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m absolutely thrilled to have Bernthal’s Frank Castle back. The actor is fantastic in the role and any time Marvel and Disney want to trot him out so he can deliver bloody vengeance onto the criminal elements of NYC, I’m going to be there for it. But this special is about as slight as it could be and it barely scratches the surface of what the MCU could do with the character. He promises a darker, bloodier set of stories that remove some of that clean, family-friendly veneer from Marvel’s universe. Having him in the MCU promises so many things for where that universe could go. Now we just need Bernthan to get a lengthy, meaty story to really showcase the character properly. The Punisher: One Last Kill is intriguing but not nearly enough. Now we just need more.