The age of the video game movie is over. The dawn of the adult-oriented video game animated series is here at last. Its herald is and has always been Adi Shankar. The producer, best known for kicking in the doors to massive IP holders and creating something new out of their old action figures with or without permission, has done it again with Captain Laserhawk: A Blood Dragon Remix. It's a mixed-media cyberpunk epic that promises a lot and delivers even more.
Shankar is fresh off the success of his Castlevania series and its masterful spin-off that debuted only three weeks ago. He's attached to similar adaptations of Assassin's Creed, Hyper Light Drifter, and Devil May Cry, all currently in production. Lastman writer/director Yves "Balak" Bigerel stepped in as Laserhawk's creative director. Arcane and Love, Death & Robots artist Mehdi Leffad made his directorial debut behind each episode of the season. Shockingly, Laserhawk is French animation studio Bobbypills' most tame production to date in many ways.
10 Years Later, Far Cry Needs Another Blood Dragon
Released on April 30 2013, Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon turns 10 years old today, and its return is exactly what the Far Cry franchise needs right now.
Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon was a standalone spin-off game that adapted the mechanics of Ubisoft's excellent 2012 first-person shooter into an 80s-inspired cyberpunk epic. Laserhawk takes limited elements from the game, most notably a protagonist with a robotic arm and eye. It's not an adaptation in any meaningful sense. It's inspired by Blood Dragon, which is just as well because both works have pop-cultural references pumping through their veins. The titular Captain Dolph Laserhawk is a renegade cyber-soldier betrayed and abandoned by the man he loved. Laserhawk wakes up in a supermax prison, where the warden explains that he and his cellmates will be her new Suicide Squad. His cohorts include Jade and Pey'j from Beyond Good and Evil and Bullfrog, an anthropomorphic amphibian trained as an assassin like Ezio and Altaïr before him. The show seems primed for an Ubisoft answer to Super Smash Bros.
Captain Laserhawk takes place in a familiar cyberpunk society called Eden. Netflix has quickly become the home of the venerable sci-fi subgenre as Laserhawk plays well against Cyberpunk: Edgerunners. It's a more comedic take on the concepts involved. The setting is the only element of the series that reads as somewhat generic. Shankar's work is typically drenched in semi-ironic references. The constant cameos by various Ubisoft figures never overstay their welcome. Rayman, the company's oft-mistreated relic of the mascot platformer era, enjoys a bizarrely in-depth subplot as a state-groomed propagandist that ends beautifully. The show isn't simply throwing IP at the screen to draw applause. Shankar's chaotic use of the cast is impressive. Laserhawk provides Sam Fisher with the best showcase he's received in a decade. Ubisoft is almost as abusive to their characters as Konami, so it's nice to see Shankar give another batch a chance.
Beyond dredging up the entire cast of Watch Dogs, Laserhawk is drenched in a wild mish-mash of video game allusions. A character is tasked with seducing a guard in a brief dating sim segment. An early action scene sees Laserhawk jumping and shooting in a side-scroller like Samus Aran. Some scene transitions are accompanied by loading screens with brief, relevant animations. Laserhawk is less reminiscent of Castlevania and more evocative of Shankar's underrated 2022 series, The Guardians of Justice. That show, a subversive take on the Justice League, has the same chaotic smash-and-grab approach to every notable visual medium. It also has the same sort of twist-heavy story in which characters consistently switch sides and even more frequently die. Fans of Guardians will love Laserhawk, as will anyone with a considerable tolerance for Shankar's oeuvre.
Captain Laserhawk's biggest problem is its inability to focus. Tremendous events occur in the first couple of episodes and are swiftly forgotten by the fourth or fifth. It's a six-episode outing that packs an immense amount of fun into just over two hours. However, Shankar's strange approach to storytelling rears its ugly head again. The first season of Castlevania told a few short stories and delivered plenty of action, but it was unmistakable as a preview of things to come. Laserhawk is, sadly, in the same camp. Fans can enjoy the first season of Captain Laserhawk, but it ends on a cliffhanger like its predecessors. Elements of the story are left hanging, and there's no way of knowing whether they'll be paid off until potential future seasons hit Netflix. Shankar seems to be one of the pillars of the franchise now, but nothing is safe. Laserhawk makes it abundantly clear that more is on the horizon, but if Netflix decides to pull the plug, the show will be much weaker for it.
Despite its ending, Captain Laserhawk is an excellent cyberpunk series that demonstrates Shankar's approach can work across genres. It's colorful, anarchic, action-packed, and endlessly entertaining. Laserhawk announces its intention to return for future seasons in its final moments, but the six-episode epic available now is fantastic. Fans looking for an adaptation of their favorite 2013 spin-off comedy game might be disappointed to see something else hit the screen but give Laserhawk a chance. Captain Laserhawk feels like the show Rex "Power" Colt grew up watching on Saturday mornings, and it's much better than that implies.