Film Brain reviews the third entry in the video game adaptation, where the blue alien hedgehog meets his dark mirror, and with two Jim Carreys for the price of one! What's not to love?
Category
😹
FunTranscript
00:00Hello and welcome to Projector and on this episode, Sonic the Hedgehog meets his match
00:05in the third film entry.
00:23Shadow the Hedgehog voiced by Keanu Reeves escapes after being held captive for 50 years.
00:29Sonic, Tails and Knuckles voiced by Ben Schwartz, Colleen O'Shaughnessy and Idris Elba respectively
00:34are sent by Gunn to capture Shadow but soon realise that Gunn can't be trusted.
00:40Team Sonic forge an uneasy alliance with Ivo Robotnik played by Jim Carrey putting them
00:44on a collision course with Shadow and Robotnik's long lost grandfather Gerald also played by
00:49Carrey who are plotting a devastating revenge.
00:53The third film adaptation of the popular Sega video game character, Sonic the Hedgehog 3
00:58is once again directed by Jeff Fowler who helmed the previous two films and Violet Knight
01:02screenwriters Pat Casey and Josh Miller also return, having now written all three films
01:07in the series.
01:09John Whittington also returns as a co-writer from Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and is also the
01:13co-creator of the Knuckles spin-off series which was actually developed simultaneously
01:17with this third film.
01:19If you haven't seen Knuckles, because chances are you don't have a Paramount Plus subscription,
01:24don't worry, it has very little impact on the plus of this film and I should know because
01:28I saw this without having watched that.
01:31So this is very much re-enlightening the team that's been on a winning formula with these
01:34Sonic films, especially considering the infamous start they had with that original design for
01:38Sonic that literally everyone hated and became an instant punchline.
01:43But they took the feedback from that and improved it, at great expense, but that I think has
01:48been the secret to the franchise's success on film, they've been listening to their
01:52core audience and delivering what they want out of these movies, and clearly Paramount
01:57wants to keep the team together because they've already announced a fourth film before this
02:01third movie was even released.
02:04And Sonic 3 is further evidence in my opinion that these films were improving with each
02:08entry and that video game films are not always the total dross they've been for many many
02:13years, even with the odd slip up you still get like Borderlands.
02:17So this time around, Sonic's arc in the film, now that he has Tails and Knuckles as a kind
02:21of family, is about teamwork, especially if they have to work together as a unit.
02:27At the beginning of the film, the three characters are introduced racing against each other trying
02:32to see who is the fastest, unfortunately that sibling competitiveness also bleeds into their
02:38missions sometimes.
02:40They have all the elements of a good team, Sonic is the leader, Tails does the gadgets
02:44and Knuckles is the muscle, but it's usually when Sonic tries to tackle things on his own
02:50instead, that's when things very quickly go wrong.
02:53You see this in their first time encountering Shadow, where he quickly leaves them behind
02:57to chase after him, which only really makes things worse.
03:02And that emphasis on family, Vin Diesel would definitely approve, is a grounding for Sonic,
03:07they've had that guidance from James Marston's Tom, but also Ravenclaw back in the very first
03:13film which this calls back to very early on when Sonic revisits the old cave that he used
03:18to live in.
03:19Sonic's got a lot of power and energy at his disposal, but he needs to learn how to
03:23focus and harness it in the best way, and if these ideas of great power and great responsibility
03:30and what it means to be a hero seem a bit familiar, then that's because these films
03:34in my opinion are very much in the vein of superhero movies.
03:38When someone called Sonic an alien at one point, they could just as easily be talking
03:41about Superman.
03:43One could even argue that these Sonic films are actually a stepping stone for young viewers
03:47into things like the MCU, in that the Sonic franchise has its own mythology and cast of
03:52characters that much of the audience will be already familiar with going in, and kids
03:57often lose their minds at the teasers during the credits promising the next character to
04:02be introduced in the following sequel.
04:04Yeah, now that I think about it, that does sound a lot like Marvel films.
04:09And Fallow and his team are clearly treating these characters with a lot of care and respect,
04:13so they get their dynamics and personalities right while still having a lot of heart and
04:17sincerity in the storytelling.
04:20Ben Schwartzer allowed plenty of room for wisecracks as Sonic, even managing to squeeze
04:24in a Bea Arthur joke, which is frankly more Bea Arthur jokes than I would expect out of
04:29a Sonic movie, but he's also a little less gracing than he was perhaps sometimes in the
04:34previous films.
04:35But for me Idris Elba also gets some amusing moments as Knuckles, because he tries to solve
04:40nearly every situation with his fists, but they also give him a sense of honour, which
04:44means that he's not a total buffoon of a character.
04:48Coleen O'Shaughnessy just slots right back into her usual role as Tails, although I did
04:52think the character was a bit sidelined in this outing.
04:56But that emphasis on family and choosing the right path is obviously meant to contrast
05:01Sonic's upbringing with Shadow's, who's experienced nothing but tragedy and loss.
05:06And bringing Keanu Reeves, like Idris Elba before him, is a great bit of stunt casting,
05:12clearly playing on his John Wick persona.
05:14There's an early scene where Shadow is wandering through the streets of Tokyo in the rain that's
05:19very John Wick, especially those opening scenes of Chapter 4, and Reeves voices the character
05:25with the same quiet intensity that he brought to John Wick, so calmly assured of his power
05:30that he doesn't even need to be overtly menacing because he doesn't see Sonic as a threat.
05:36Reeves is clearly committed to the character, and he has to, because the film's most emotional
05:41moments are connected to him, but he's also kind of sending himself up a little bit, trying
05:47to give a little levity to Shadow's brooding self-seriousness, you know, deadpanning lines
05:52like REVENGE QUARK, almost like they've got a kind of gravitas to them.
05:57But the presence of a character like Shadow who is hellbent on vengeance indicates that
06:01this is a darker sequel than its predecessors.
06:04Not so much so that it's inappropriate for kids who are the target audience, but the
06:09stakes here are much higher than the earlier films, and this is also a movie where people
06:14do die or are seriously injured.
06:16Again, that likely won't come as a surprise to the target audience who are familiar with
06:21the games, who likely know the kind of stuff that I'm referring to, especially with regards
06:26to Shadow's backstory, and it's a credit to the creators for not pulling their punches
06:31too much when bringing it to film.
06:34That definitely means there are moments where the tone is a bit of a juggling act, because
06:37this is a kid's film about the destructive futility of revenge.
06:42It's also a movie where Jim Carrey spanks himself with an oversized robot hand, and
06:46sometimes Sonic 3 veers between those two things within the same sequence.
06:52But speaking of Carrey, he's the main reason why I see these films, he's a childhood hero
06:56of mine and I grew up with his movies.
06:59When I see Carrey mugging for the camera, my inner 10 year old is absolutely delighted.
07:05And Carrey has always been perfect casting as Robotnik, he's maybe the only actor around
07:11who's enough of a cartoon to keep up with his animated co-stars, and I think he's especially
07:16at his most fun when he's playing a villain, and now we get him to the power of two.
07:21After Carrey threatened to retire following the second film unless he got quote a golden
07:26It appears the filmmakers attempted to do everything in their power to try and win him
07:31back.
07:32Apparently, they even sent him his copy of the script printed in gold just to take his
07:36request literally.
07:38But it does seem like Carrey got a lot of creative control this time out, not just because
07:42he's been upgraded to top billing for the first time, but he even gets an artistic consultant
07:47credit on this movie.
07:49So not only do we get regular flavour Ivor Robotnik, the movie pronounces it wrong so
07:53I might as well for the sake of consistency, who has let himself go after his last defeat
07:57by Sonic, making him a little bit closer to his game counterpart and spending much of
08:02the intervening time binging telenovelas, but we also get his grandfather Gerald, who
08:07is looking pretty good for 110 years old.
08:11Presumably that's from all the jolts of chaos energy from Shadow's Quills, but is essentially
08:16an older, fatter, more twisted version of Ivo, whose desire for narcissistic world domination
08:22is replaced with nihilistic rage.
08:25And the scenes where Carrey is interacting with himself are an absolute delight.
08:29I'm sure technically they're an absolute pain in the butt to film, but Carrey brings
08:34his usual animated absurdity, whether it's immediately breaking the fourth wall or an
08:38elaborate hysterically warped showstopper dance number through a laser field.
08:44Playing against himself, Carrey might have found a co-star who could actually keep up
08:48with him.
08:49But this robotnic reunion also ties back into the theme of family, as Ivo Farley finds some
08:54validation that he's been desperately yearning, even as he doesn't realise that he already
08:59has it from his long-suffering partner, I mean henchman, Agent Stone, played by Lee
09:04Maj Doob, who unfortunately spends much of the third act of the film staring at screens
09:09in Piccadilly Circus.
09:10Again, if there's an issue with Carrey's performance, it's that Gerald mostly being
09:15a grotesque caricature of an old man does make his appearances in Shadow's flashbacks,
09:20which are crucial to the film, a little bit weird tonally.
09:24It's clearly deliberately downplayed his dark side in favour of the comedy, but that
09:29does seem like it's a little bit at the expense of that particular plotline.
09:34But otherwise, Carrey steals the show, and it's probably the funniest he's been in
09:39a very long time on film.
09:42Carrey's also by far the most prominent human character in this.
09:45As more of the cast of the animated characters from the games expands into the films, there's
09:50less and less focus being placed on the human characters, which isn't really a criticism,
09:55I actually thought they took up a little bit too much screen time in the previous films,
09:59but it is worth noting.
10:00Obviously, James Marsden and Tika Sumpter return as Team Sonic's surrogate parents
10:05Tom and Maddie, but they're mostly taking a back seat until they join in on a heist
10:09plot in the middle portion of the film.
10:12So at least they do get a little bit more to do than they did in the second movie.
10:16Natasha Rothwell and Shamir Moore also return, but only very briefly as Tom and Maddie's
10:21disguises in that very same sequence.
10:24Adam Pally is also back as the goofy deputy sheriff, but it's only for one very small
10:30scene, after he effectively co-stars throughout the entirety of Knuckles.
10:34New to the cast this time around is Kristen Ritter as a gun officer who doesn't trust
10:38Sonic.
10:39And lastly, you're placing Tom Butler as Commander Walters, who returns for only a
10:43couple of scenes here.
10:45But the new human cast member leaving the most impression is Isla Brown from Furiosa
10:49and Sting in the key role of Maria, who Shadow befriends in his flashbacks and serves as
10:54a small glint of hope in a lifetime of experimentation.
10:59Brown gives a poignancy to Maria and their relationship in only a handful of scenes,
11:04especially so as her role is critical to the film's plot.
11:08What I think is knowable about the film is how much larger it is in terms of scope and
11:12ambition, even compared to the second film going from Tokyo to London to space.
11:18It's striking to compare it to the relative small scale of the first film's road movie
11:21and just how much more confident these films have become in themselves and incorporating
11:26the source material.
11:27You can even see this in the action sequences, which are bigger and more elaborately staged.
11:32For my money, the best sequence in the film is actually Sonic's first encounter with
11:37Shadow as they speed through the streets of Tokyo, and there's clearly a very big
11:42anime influence to a lot of the visuals in these sequences, especially the moment where
11:47Shadow does the Akira slide up the side of a tower.
11:50When Sonic and Shadow have this huge fight across the third act that spans across continents
11:55and even into outer space, for me it was very reminiscent of a Dragon Ball Z battle scene
12:00with all the super powered destruction as they knock themselves into these massive craters.
12:05I did think that, at times, the film nearly got lost in its own bombast, especially in
12:10these sequences where you've got two almost identical looking characters fighting each
12:14other, so it's very hard to tell them apart until they start speaking.
12:18That might be a deliberate choice, but even so, that meant that I was a bit removed from
12:23the action.
12:24Luckily though, the film remembers the story and its emotional thread again at a crucial
12:29moment, and it's that piece of quiet introspection which lands after all the chaos and explosion
12:35beforehand.
12:36It's a reminder that, if nothing else, there is a genuine heart to these Sonic films when
12:41it could just easily be a cynical IP cash grab.
12:45Sonic the Hedgehog 3 continues to be on par with the second film.
12:48Yes, it is a little bit messy and yes, the tone is a bit all over the place sometimes,
12:53but it's also very entertaining and funny.
12:55As I watched it, I thought to myself, this is going to be the favourite movie of a lot
13:00of 8 year olds, and I don't mean that as a dig.
13:03And yes, I know there are a lot of older Sonic fans who have grown up with the character,
13:08they'll enjoy this too, but you have to remember, it is largely made for kids, and it works
13:13for exactly who it's intended for.
13:15When an action scene pauses for a comic book pose that's very fanservice-y, this 34 year
13:21old casual viewer might groan a little, but there's probably some kid out there that sees
13:26that moment and goes, yeah!
13:28That's what a kid does, right?
13:29An 8 year old kid, they go, yeah!
13:32It's really hard to knock the Sonic films for being surprisingly good, and consistently
13:36so for what they are, which is a fun time for kids, and plenty of big kids too.
13:42If you liked this review and you want to support my work, you can give me a tip at my Ko-fi
13:46page or my YouTube Super Thanks feature which is right below the video, or you can go fast
13:51to my Patreon where you can see my videos early and my other perks, including access
13:55to my Discord server, and you can also join YouTube memberships for similar perks.
14:00Or you can just simply like, share and subscribe, it all helps.
14:03Until next time, I'm Matthew Buck, Fading Out.