Punisher: One Last Kill Review

This man spent the entire 44 min runtime turning organized crime into closed casket funerals leaving emotional trauma for those left behind. If anything, this movie felt like a powerful ass announcement that Frank Castle absolutely will be killing again. And honestly? We all knew he was gonna.

RANK: A

WHAT DAT: The Punisher: One Last Kill drops Frank Castle back into the absolute muck and blood-soaked corners of New York after multiple pesty ghosts (and possibly actual ghosts?) from his past resurface driving Frank into some beyond Eeyore levels of depression. Everything well and truly goes all the way off when Frank is confronted by Ma Gnucci, the last surviving member of her mob family, which surprise The Punisher brutally, and we do mean BRUTALLY killed in front of her.

The movie balances brutal vigilante action with Frank’s deteriorating mental state, grief, and the lingering question of whether a man like Castle can ever really stop being The Punisher.

Spoiler alert: naw.

WHO DAT:

• Jon Bernthal as Frank Castle / The Punisher

• Judith Light as Ma Gnucci

• Jason R. Moore as Curtis Hoyle

• Deborah Ann Woll as Karen Page

• Various criminals who learned the hardest way that Frank Castle does not fuck with de-escalation

YEAH TO:

First things first: JUSTICE FOR THAT HOMIES DOG!!!

I'll park that there for now, but I will say once you know you can't unknow.

Off top, Judith Light perfectly served her 10 minutes of screentime as Ma Gnucci. Comic dweebs like me know Ma Gnucci is one of the most fucked up (in both appearances and in deed) mob bosses Frank ever dealt with — introduced during Garth Ennis’ legendary Punisher run — a manipulative crime matriarch who survives impossible situations out of pure hatred and nearly comical spite. Light played her with all the energy of a woman held together by rage, a Nigerian man-nurse, and unpaid sins. Somehow she nailed being intensely menacing AND mad hilarious at the same time, like Lucille Bluth if she were whelped in the Bronx.

Now. Let's not even play like we're not gonna talk about our brother in blood, Jon Bernthal.

Good lord.

Bernthal gave a performance that ever so quietly felt like a conversation about men's mental health through pending anguish and extreme isolation without ever slowing down the knife fights to preach about it. Frank literally has no one to talk to the point he summons ghosts. Bernthal brought artistry to some fucked up violence.

And speaking of violence… whoa nelly.

The action in this movie is several exits beyond wild. Positively feral in every fun way possible.

The fight choreography flows with this horrifying elegance from hand-to-hand combat, to bloody knife work, to tactical almost video game like gunplay in ways that make the gun kata of 'Equilibrium' look lazy in comparison. Every punch flung looked desperate. Every stab looked hella personal. Every gunshot sounded like it erased entire bloodlines. They used every single letter of the TV-MA warning. Was kinda beautiful.

NAW TO:

Too damn short. Not much to say beyond that, however calling this a "movie" was a softly whispered fuck you to Punisher fans and all Marvel nerds alike.

Also chill with the "ghosts from Frank’s past” bit. It's not like it was the worst way to magnify human trauma, but at some point it started feeling like every person Frank ever buried or loved popped in for a quick "boo" moment, just to enigmatically disappear in a blink.

And yeah… mild spoiler here maybe?

Frank only wore the REAL Punisher skull fit for about a smooth 4 minutes of screentime.

It was green hoodie Frank majority of the ride.

And from what Chatgpt tells me that black tactical gear with the super iconic skull decal was unshockingly expensive to make. Marvel. Friends. Kindly stop teasing comic accurate super suits like they're goddamn post-credit scenes. We want em. We would even gladly abide an obligatory "gear up" montage. #letsride

GEEKED OUR INTEREST:

Well hell yeah sir. Sure this really wasn't some sumptuous narrative driven flick, but honestly it really didn't need to be. Who really balls up to watch the Punisher without at least the primary goal of seeing street leave trash get ruthlessly swept the fuck away?

If you're like us and came for some HBO level violence, Disney+ undeniably delivered that swiftly and on time.

Although still slightly bummed we STILL didn’t fully get the MCU version of Barracuda throwin' paws and Bowie knives with Frank Castle. Fellow comic dorks know Barracuda is one of the few villains insane enough to genuinely match Frank’s energy — a massive smiling psychopath with an iconic gold grill who was one on a very short list to run up on the Punisher and make it past a first appearance issue.

The movie also kinda abruptly ends. In a classic Punisher way so it's not too vexing.

BUT…

Knowing our dude Jon Bernthal is already expected to return as The Punisher in Spider-Man: Brand New Day dropping July 31, 2026, there’s clearly a lot more room to expand this coveted corner of the MCU. And after watching One Last Kill? - Can't fuckin wait.

Were you bleaked at Marvel's latest stab at the Punisher or was all the glorious bloodshed enough to make Punisher: One Last Kill a highlight of 2026?