Lately, just about any video game is ripe to be tailored for a movie or TV present. However that didn’t make it any much less odd when it was revealed Netflix was aiming to make a cartoon out of 2013’s Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon, a retrofuture parody of 80s motion media. That fondly remembered standalone hangs over Ubisoft’s Far Cry franchise in an odd method, and it wasn’t completely fallacious to assume that the newly launched Captain Laserhawk: A Blood Dragon Remix was displaying up very late to the get together. Regardless of the preliminary strangeness, the completed product is a surprisingly enjoyable good time, made all of the extra attention-grabbing by how a lot it’s dedicated to offering its personal distinct, but pretty acquainted model of goofiness.
Captain Laserhawk’s common pitch can greatest be described as “Ubisoft’s Suicide Squad, via the lens of outdated GI Joe cartoons.” The present is about within the alternate, distant way forward for 1992, the place a megacorporation dubbed Eden has taken over what stays of the USA and turned it right into a dystopian technocracy. Cyborg supersoldier Dolph Laserhawk (Nathaniel Curtis) is compelled right into a becoming a member of a black ops workforce alongside Jade (Courtney Mae-Briggs) and Pey’j (Glenn Wrage) from the cult traditional recreation Past Good & Evil and a speaking bullfrog (Yves Bigerel, aka “Balak,” the present’s artistic director) who operates because the final member of the Assassins from Ubisoft’s long-running stealth collection. With bombs of their heads that’ll detonate in the event that they don’t comply, the foursome run ops for the jail’s warden, all whereas Dolph tries to reckon with being put n this case as a result of he was betrayed by his boyfriend Alex (Boris Hiestand) throughout a heist.
If that each one sounds utterly ridiculous, that’s as a result of the present is strictly that. Whereas Castlevania’s reveals really feel methodically plotted and like they’re attempting to seize the spirit of the games they borrow their title from, Laserhawk is extra like an animation workforce that actually likes Ubisoft video games threw out a bunch of concepts on the fly and stitched collectively a unifying plot after the very fact. The tip result’s a present the place you’re by no means fairly certain what’s going to occur subsequent, totally on a visible degree: the first animation aesthetic borrows from GI Joe with typically stilted motion and lip-syncing that feels a little bit off, however not a lot that it takes away from the expertise. However now and again, animation studio Bobbypills throws a curveball—all of the sudden the present will change its animation fashion to imitate 2D sprites, or pixelated live-action—that finally ends up working a lot better than you’d anticipate.
Those that’ve performed numerous Ubisoft franchises through the years will get a bit of one thing additional out of watching Laserhawk unite disparate characters and concepts from these properties right into a single present. (With two homosexual males because the core relationship, it even manages to dip into poisonous yaoi territory, made funnier by the truth that a yaoi manga of the 2 really exists.) It lacks a common coherence, but it surely makes up for that with its power: it’s admittedly pleasant to look at a conceit undertaking from one of many greatest third-party recreation publishers not work additional time to make each one in all its franchises come off as crucial factor ever.
For higher or worse, the present has a little bit of a imply streak in the way it regards some Ubisoft characters, equivalent to reimagining Rayman (David Menken) as a delightfully unhinged, pathetic discuss present host working as a mannequin minority working as Eden’s propaganda machine. On the identical time, you’ll be able to inform that Bobbypills, director Medhi Leffad, and creator Adi Shankar—who helped get Castlevania off the bottom for Netflix—are having real enjoyable with these properties and the odd premise they’ve cooked up. Even in case you’re somebody who’s lengthy been sick of Assassin’s Creed nonsense or can’t end up to care about Watch Dogs or Splinter Cell anymore, this present supplies some intelligent spins on characters (or themes) from these titles. Whether or not it’s watching Bullfrog recite the mantra of the Assassins earlier than springing into motion or the workforce’s Warden (Caroline Ward) progressively unveil her motivations, Captain Laserhawk manages to be genuinely partaking when it simply might’ve been self-congratulatory IP fare.
When the present is bouncing between various kinds of animation and letting its eclectic solid do their factor, the present is at its greatest. However when it’s not doing that, you’ll be able to see a few of its flaws stand out. The present doesn’t have as a lot time because it most likely wants to actually dig into the themes of resistance and destroying regimes, leaving that a part of its story feeling unfinished in order for a hopeful season two tease. And very similar to how Castlevania: Nocturne might’ve benefited from one other quartet of episodes, the identical holds true right here. Laserhawk makes essentially the most out of its six-episode run, however sure characters and emotional beats really feel like they might’ve benefitted from some extra respiratory room.
Captain Laserhawk is endearingly goofy and disposable, even because it tries to earnestly deal with what it appears to be like wish to insurgent inside a restrictive system and the lengths individuals go to to take care of their particular person personhood. Under no circumstances is it revolutionary, but it surely gained me over inside minutes, and it was arduous to not desire a second season after how every little thing ended. In that sense, it actually is sort of a Ubisoft recreation: you might not totally know what you’re moving into at first, however there’s finally one thing that will get its hooks into you and retains your consideration.
The whole first season of Captain Laserhawk: A Blood Dragon Remix is streaming on Netflix.
Need extra io9 information? Try when to anticipate the newest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s subsequent for the DC Universe on film and TV, and every little thing it is advisable find out about the way forward for Doctor Who.
Trending Merchandise
