Review: 'Captain Laserhawk: Blood Dragon Remix'

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Captain Laserhawk: Blood Dragon Remix is a Netflix animated series from Ubisoft Film & Television. The executive producer, Adi Shankar, previously worked on Castlevania, another Netflix animated series. The show is loosely based off of Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon. In fact, this show references multiple Ubisoft franchises, which has led to the show gaining interest online. Most of the notoriety that this show has been gathering has been its depiction of Ubisoft's former mascot, Rayman. I know seeing Rayman swear like a sailor piqued my interest for the show. Luckily, the show is a lot more than just showing beloved gaming mascots swear.

The show takes place in a dystopian future where the United States is no more. It has become Eden, a technocracy controlled by a mega corporation of the same name and populated by humans and anthropomorphic animals, known as hybrids. The show follows Captain Dolph Laserhawk, a fugitive supersoldier armed with a cybernetic abilities. After a failed heist with his romantic interest, Alex Taylor, Laserhawk is arrested and sent to Supermaxx, Eden's top secret prison. The warden of the Supermaxx considers Laserhawk a useful asset to her goals for Eden and selects him to lead a ragtag group of prisoners to execute secret operations.

At its core, Captain Laserhawk is an action show and the animation does not disappoint in this aspect. The show oozes with flare and style whenever an action scene takes place. You can feel the impact and weight of each character's movement as they leap around the screen throwing out a barrage of explosives and lasers at each other. The world of Laserhawk has an 80s cyberpunk charm, similar to games like Cyberpunk 2077 or movies like Blade Runner. The character design is also amazing. Despite this show having characters based off different Ubisoft properties, they are designed in a way where the characters naturally feel as if they are connected in the same world.

I admire the story and the plot pieces that occur. Without going into spoiler territory, the show always managed to surprise for what it had up its sleeve. Just when I think something would happen, the story takes a complete 180. I appreciate when a story attempts to deviate from predictable territory and succeeds at it. I do believe that if viewers watch the show blindly, they will be caught off guard with what this show has to offer.

If I had to criticize some aspect of the show, the show, it would have to be its characters. We are introduced to a lot of interesting characters in this first season, but we don't get to see a lot of them develop in any way. I know not every character needs to be a dynamic character, but I feel like we don't get to know some characters enough. I also found some of the voice acting for some characters like Jade, the warden, and even Laserhawk at times to be really flat. However, many of the voice actors are mostly new faces in the voice acting sphere and I appreciate the show for using new talent. I'm sure with more seasons, the cast will develop their skills and become better.

Overall, I really enjoyed my time with Captain Laserhawk: Blood Dragon Remix. It's a gorgeously animated show with a lovely setting, amazing action, and an enthralling story. I highly recommend that you give this show a viewing. It may be somewhat rough in some aspects, but it really smooths out later in the story. Excitedly waiting for season 2!