Drama
A Man in Full
Talent and intrigue ultimately can’t cloak the truth about this vulgar, crass and graphic drama on Netflix.
Dolph Laserhawk isn’t exactly what you would call a “stand-up guy.” It’s not that he’s evil, per se, just that he’s ruled by his own selfish ambitions.
He nearly died once but was saved by Eden, the corrupt technocracy that replaced the United States. Eden’s scientists implanted Dolph with about a billion credits’ worth of cybernetics, turning him into a super soldier.
But then Dolph began working for Marcus Holloway, leader of the resistance against Eden and public enemy No. 1.
It’s not that Dolph didn’t appreciate all those cybernetics. But He grew to have a pretty big issue with Eden itself. You see, Eden’s goal was to eliminate crime, poverty and war, which sounds nice. They implemented the UBI (Universal Basic Income), which grants citizens a stipend for obeying the law, which is fine. But those laws can be a bit overbearing.
You can work, but only if it’s for Eden. You can eat, but only if it’s the food Eden provided. You can even watch TV, but Eden regulates the programming and sometimes even requires viewership (with a hefty fine if you fail to watch).
All Dolph wanted to do was leave Eden forever with his boyfriend, Alex Taylor. Working for Marcus seemed like a strong step in that direction. But when Alex betrayed him, Dolph found himself working for Eden once again in a sort of Suicide Squad called the Ghosts.
He and the other ghosts (so called because they “don’t exist” anymore by Eden’s standards) have only one option: submit and obey. Because if they don’t, they won’t just get thrown back in prison, like Eden’s other criminals. They’ll get their heads blown off thanks to explosives embedded in their skulls. And nobody will know or care since Eden has already erased them from the system.
Dolph doesn’t care if he dies. But he does want revenge against Alex, who’s taken it upon himself to start up a new rebel movement. And the only way Dolph will get the chance for that revenge is if he cooperates with Eden and the very people who led him down this dark path to begin with.
Netflix’s TV-MA rated Captain Laserhawk is rife with issues. The good guys often do bad things; the bad guys sometimes do good things. Corruption poisons the idealist society that Eden’s leaders had hoped to create. And the fun, ‘90s video game style implemented throughout the show does little to alleviate the massive problems of this Far Cry spinoff.
Characters lose lives and limbs (with gory effect). Just about every sentence includes one obscenity or another. Graphic animated nudity makes an appearance, as do many sexual acts (which often involve LGBT characters). And these gratuitous problems tend to divert viewers from the actual storyline.
All in all, Captain Laserhawk is a far cry from anything that you or your family should be watching on television.
Dolph Laserhawk is betrayed by his boyfriend, Alex Taylor, as the pair attempts to steal the credits necessary to leave Eden forever.
Marcus Holloway, leader of the revolution against Eden, makes a show of power by leaking his own location to Eden’s authorities. And when they arrive (marked by multiple red sniper lights on his head), he manages to kill his would-be assassins (offscreen but we hear gunshots) before they can attack. We see lots of blood on Marcus’ face when he returns.
Characters fight with fists, guns and grenades. Several characters lose their lives or limbs in bloody arrays. One man’s head is literally blown off by bomb implanted in his brain. Dolph is equipped with a cybernetic arm that grants him super strength (which he uses to rip the roof off a car) and can turn into a powerful gun (which he injures and kills several people with). Several characters are thrown (or fall) to their presumed deaths from great heights.
Dolph and Alex battle police officers during a car chase. It ends when one of the cops accidentally blows up an antigravity road, causing all the vehicles on it to fall. (Dolph, Alex and the offending officer survive, but it’s implied that the falling infrastructure killed many people on the ground below. Eden later blames Dolph for the incident, labeling him as a terrorist.)
We see flashes of crime, poverty and war. Two men looking for work outside a factory get into a fistfight in their attempts to claim a job offer. Someone smashes a TV screen in anger. We see pictures of Dolph on an operating table as machines surgically implant cybernetics. We hear a character is part of a “brotherhood of assassins.”
Dolph kisses Alex and we see shots of the pair in bed together without clothing. (We see their bare behinds.) We hear that Dolph’s mother was a sex worker, and a picture shows an ad of her sans clothes.
Characters smoke cigars. A documentary shows a picture of Dolph smoking cigarettes at 9 years old as a narrator says he became addicted to crack.
Propaganda (both from Eden and its enemies) floods TV screens. Eden forces citizens to watch its programming under threats of hefty fines. Someone calls Eden a “fascist dystopian hellscape.” And we’re given other examples of Eden’s corruption. We hear Dolph’s dad was a thief. Dolph and Alex steal money. Alex talks about taking down Eden. Characters are betrayed.
There are 15 uses of the f-word and six uses of the s-word. God’s name is abused four times, twice paired with “d–n.” Christ’s name is abused twice. And there are also uses of “a–hole,” “d–n” and “h—.”
Emily studied film and writing when she was in college. And when she isn’t being way too competitive while playing board games, she enjoys food, sleep, and geeking out with her husband indulging in their “nerdoms,” which is the collective fan cultures of everything they love, such as Star Wars, Star Trek, Stargate and Lord of the Rings.
Talent and intrigue ultimately can’t cloak the truth about this vulgar, crass and graphic drama on Netflix.
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