The Punisher: One Last Kill Pays Tribute To An All-Time Classic Action Movie

Contains spoilers for "The Punisher: One Last Kill"

Frank Castle (played by Jon Bernthal) doesn't hand out flowers and hugs to the folks who wrong him in "The Punisher: One Last Kill." Instead, he lives up to his moniker and dishes out the punishment — cold and bloody. One major scene from the Disney+ special pays tribute to an all-time classic from director Garth Evans: "The Raid."

In "The Punisher: One Last Kill," Ma Gnucci (Judith Light) takes out a bounty on Frank. All of the city's scum and low lives swarm Frank's apartment block. While he might not have been in the mood for violence, this changes when it arrives. The action kicks off in the hallway outside of Frank's apartment. This spills to the outside walkway, as the Punisher spots the goons occupying the different floors and harassing the tenants. Now, it's up to Frank to move up the building, beat the blood (and guts) out of bad guys, and escape with all his limbs intact.

In "The Raid" — one of the best action movies of all time — Iko Uwais' Rama goes through a similar experience, being forced to battle his way out of an apartment complex. It's a fight for survival and an endless assault of heart-in-throat moments, where Rama hardly has any time to catch his breath because the bad guys just keep on coming!

Nothing is sacred in this world. After "The Raid" turned into a beloved action movie in 2011, Hollywood wanted a stab at making a remake. At one point, director Joe Carnahan and writer Adam G. Simon were attached to the film; however, they have since departed the project.

Having said that, Simon once pitched an interesting Punisher film involving Jon Bernthal that would have leaned into a hard R rating and occurred after the ending of "The Punisher" series. "Frank Castle has to go gunning for the person who he feels is responsible for the innumerable civilian casualties," Simon told ComicBook.com in 2020. "The one who started it all by organizing these weapons of mass destruction to come together. Nick Fury. The twist is that Frank is being used, he spots the double-cross early at the end of act one."

As a long-time Punisher fan, Simon even mentioned the addition of Ma Gnucci as a character, suggesting that either Edie Falco or Kristin Scott Thomas play the mobster. While Simon's movie pitch never materialized, nor did his version of "The Raid," it sounds like he has a solid plan if Marvel Studios ever wants another Disney+ special or Punisher movie.