After the 1999 triumph that was Violent Sh!t 3 it seemed as though Andreas Schnaas had retired the mighty Karl the Butcher, but eleven years later returned with this film, Schnaas was perhaps invigorated, inspired by the partnership of newer Euro-gore maestro Timo Rose (who edits, co-directs and co-stars as the titular Axe), though sadly he wasn't inspired enough to make this film more than a watchable but ultimately forgettable footnote. The plot has advanced from the first three, this time round we're in post apocalyptic territory. Some unknown catastrophe has destroyed society and the civilised world, leaving only violent territorial gangs who greedily trade resources and kill any trespassers. Into this land come Karl the Butcher, sent up from hell to battle Axe, a potential contender to his butcher throne. Cue lots of bloody fighting and a few uninspired twists. Its interesting that the apocalypse is never mentioned. Some photo-shopped images of ruined monuments in the opening credits locate the viewer post apocalypse but what actually happened is never explained. And the film is set around 2023, with characters mentioning Karl the Butcher having been dead for 25 years (placing the timeline roughly in order with Violent Sh!t 3), indicating that in a mere 25 years or less humanity has collapsed and adjusted not just to the point of forgetting for the majority what caused their collapse but even those few who can remember specifics of what happened before (assuming that Violent Sh!t 3 wasn't sneakily set post apocalypse without mentioning it). Its a nice way of highlighting social decay, as is the way that no characters have proper names or characters, just daft nicknames and gang affiliations. The implication is that in the future there are no individuals, no humanity for itself, just specialised, coded bodies bound to fate. Unfortunately, while interesting alleyways are broached the film does nothing with them. Most disappointing is the combination of Karl the Butcher and Axe. They have a few skirmishes, but nothing really like the full on epic battle that the title seems to promise, and nothing like the satirical potential inherent in the casting. The battle of pioneer Euro-gore maestro with young Turk should be fraught with fun and irony, but things proceed neither in an especially gruesome nor interesting front. Speaking of not especially gruesome, the gore is a bit low by and large. Don't get me wrong, loads of people loose heads, limbs, throats and so on in appropriately bloody fashion, but everythings a lot cleaner and less demented. Its as if Schnaas and Rose were aiming for broader commercial appeal, with pretty decent cinematography for such an effort as well, but the lack of any truly mad nastiness is a definite drawback especially since each of the previous films made definite progress upon the previous in that respect. Here things are more action oriented and get a bit repetitive, especially since the action choreography isn't up to much. The atrocious acting ends up being a drawback too on account of the lacking gore, with a particularly horrid turn from Eilleen Daly standing out. Still, its watchable enough. Fast pace, a few laughs, a big bodycount and lots of blood, its a solid mindless time-waster. Generous 6/10.
