Golden Axe (2026) review

    I was initially uninterested in the prospect of watching Golden Axe. I saw the initial trailer for it and it looked like it was going to be another shameless cash grab with no interesting content. Worse, it vaguely offended me because I remembered being a ten year old enjoying putting quarters into an old arcade machine to play the game that inspired this series. 

    It seemed like they were going to just revive a nearly abandoned IP, do a goofy parody, and it would be terrible. The first two are correct while the third is very wrong. Golden Axe is a lot of fun. Is it great? No. However, it is fun and that's sometimes all that matters.

    What is the show's premise? Gilius Thunderhead (Matthew Rhys), Tyris Flare (Lisa Gilroy), and Ax Battler (Liam McIntyre) are sword and sorcery heroes who defeated the evil Death Adder. Which is the plot of the original side-scrolling beat-em-up. It turns out that Death Adder is incapable of being permanently slain as long as he wields the Golden Axe. 

    Understandably frustrated, Gilius suggests they go acquire the legendary Emerald Blade to kill Death Adder permanently. An argument ends with the group splitting up and both acquiring a replacement for their lost teammate(s). In Gilius' case, it is a weak wannabe hero named Hampton Squib (Danny Pudi) and for Tyris as well as Axe Battler, it is Chronos "Evil" Lait (Carl Tart).

    The episodes more or less consist of the two groups wandering across the lands of Yuria, getting into trouble, until they reach Death Adder's castle. These include stories of enchanted towns that are forced to be nice to one another, a pair of giant bounty hunters chasing them, visiting Hampton's parents, and being caught in a magical fear curse. They're mostly fun adventures even if not exactly groundbreaking.

    Matthew Rhys does a fantastic job as a grumpy old dwarf, using his natural Welsh accent that seperates him from all the Scottish accented dwarves out there. Gilius is a fun contrast to Tyris and Ax as both are noble self-serious fantasy heroes that just happen to be caught in an absurd world. Hampton is, unfortunately, far too many stereotypes and it takes a little too much time to get him to develop any skills.

    If there was one character I felt was done dirty, though, it is Death Adder. They had a good opportunity to make a memorable dark lord character and bungled it. Death Adder in the cartoon isn't menacing enough to be scary and he isn't goofy enough to be entertaining. Which is a shame because Mike McMahon is usually quite good at balancing that sort of thing. Worse, Death Adder is shown up by several of the lesser villains in the show.

    Do I think they could do better? Yeah. However, I think this is just a matter of the fact we don't really know the land of Yuria that well. I think if they get a second season, they should focus on making standalone fantasy episodes that will gradually fill in the world. I think the comedy is always most effective when the ridiculousness isn't lampshaded but contrasted to the absurdities of the world. 

    In conclusion, Golden Axe is pretty good but you aren't going to make this your favorite series of all time. It's definitely worth giving an afternoon's binge, though. It's funny, gory, and has some decent character writing. I wouldn't mind watching a sequel. Still, it's not anywhere in Lower Deck's league either.

    8/10