The Punisher: One Last Kill's Controversial CGI Scene Explained

Contains spoilers for "The Punisher: One Last Kill"

Jon Bernthal's Frank Castle, aka The Punisher, has had an interesting life in the Marvel Cinematic Universe so far. After making his debut in the second season of Netflix's "Daredevil," the skull-branded killer went on to have his own series ("The Punisher") that lasted for two seasons. The Punisher more recently appeared in the first season of the Disney+ revival series "Daredevil: Born Again," which last depicted him escaping the prison run by then-Mayor Wilson Fisk (Vincent D'Onofrio). Rather than having him join the sophomore season, Marvel Studios instead opted to give him his own special called "The Punisher: One Last Kill" under their Special Presentations banner. The 45-minute story has received acclaim from critics and fans alike, albeit with one CG-assisted moment leading to widespread mockery online.

About a half hour into "One Last Kill," Frank is wiping out a bunch of killers causing destruction throughout his apartment building, paying tribute to the classic action movie "The Raid." Upon getting to the roof, one goon momentarily gets the upper hand and tosses him over the side. Frank falls onto a metal silver crate, but the wonky CG involved makes it look like the special momentarily switched over to a dated cutscene from a PlayStation 3 game. His face in particular looks awful. Some have speculated that the fall was all done by computers and ended up in "One Last Kill" as an unfinished shot, but a recent report shows that, while CG was implemented, the fall was actually completed by a real stunt person.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, a source told them that the fall was completed in-camera. While that's Jon Bernthal getting initially thrown off the roof, it was his stuntman who ultimately took the weird-looking tumble below. If that's the case, then it's a very poor piece of compositing. The frenetic bloodbath comes to a halt for a slowed down tumble that's shot with no real sense of impact. In trying to switch out the stuntman's face for Bernthal's, it only calls more attention to how the visual effect makes it look uncanny. If anything, this moment matches the tonal dissonance of the special itself.

Co-written by director Reinaldo Marcus Green and Bernthal himself, "One Last Kill" largely acts as a condensed retread of all the lessons that Frank Castle has already learned throughout his tenure in the MCU. He once again finds himself grappling with his violent nature as crime family matriarch Ma Gnucci (Judith Light) puts a contract on his head as retribution for him killing several members of her clan, who were involved in the slaying of Frank's family. What starts as a relatively grounded depiction of Frank reliving his internal trauma turns into a cartoonishly violent display of carnage.

Frank ultimately decides to focus his violence on those who bring harm to the community rather than going on revenge sprees. The ending of "The Punisher: One Last Kill" sets up his appearance in "Spider-Man: Brand New Day," informing viewers that he's got a new lease on life and is ready to bring his particular brand of justice to the people who really deserve it. The violence likely won't be as full-on in the upcoming Spidey flick, though there will no doubt be plenty of CGI — here's hoping they do a better job of putting Bernthal's face over that of his stuntman.