Disney+ has premiered "The Punisher: The Last Kill" special episode from Marvel Television. The plot focuses on the Punisher's new attempt to leave his past behind, but the hero once again finds himself drawn into a war with the criminal underworld.
One of Castle's key adversaries is the crime boss Ma Gnucci, known from Garth Ennis' comics. The script for the special was written by Jon Bernthal himself, along with director Reinaldo Marcus Green.
Along with the release, full reviews appeared online. At the time of publication, the special episode received an 84% "fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes from critics and 93% from viewers. For comparison, the original Netflix series received 64% and 79% respectively.
Reviewers call "The Last Kill" a dark, brutal, and uncompromising project that is closer to a crime action film than to the usual MCU superhero fare. The Daily Beast compared the level of violence to "John Wick, multiplied by a thousand," and Variety noted that Bernthal delivered one of Marvel's best performances in recent years.
The main complaint, as in earlier reviews, concerns the runtime. The episode is only 49 minutes long, including credits, and many believe that the story lacks time for development.