The trailer for Sonic the Hedgehog 3, based on the popular games from SEGA, has finally dropped. It seems to be taking a much darker approach than the previous two film entries, but still boasting quite a few laughs and Easter eggs for long-time fans of the blue hedgehog.
We finally get a detailed look at the film’s major protagonist Shadow, a hedgehog that was created by villain Ivan Robotnik’s predecessor, Gerald Robotnik. This trailer is also the first sample we get of Keanu Reeve’s vocal performance, which is appropriately melodramatic and completely Keanu in nature.
One also glimpses what drives Shadow. The narration goes that while Sonic found family, Shadow found “only pain and loss.” That loss is likely a young girl, seen briefly, who forms a connection with Shadow early on in his life. Sonic fans will recognize her as Maria, whose memory motivates his decisions.
If the trailer is any indication, Shadow is a threat unlike any Sonic and his friends have faced, easily outmatching all three of them at once with some fast teleportation moves. This is going to require Sonic and friends to team up with their old nemesis, Doctor Ivan Robotnik, played again by Jim Carrey. This time, he seems to have let himself go, after failing to defeat Sonic again, but is still giving that chaotic energy he has exuded in the first two films. Jim will even be playing Ivan Robotnik’s father, Gerald Robotnik, who gets a brief appearance at the trailer’s end.
Sonic the Hedgehog 3 looks like it is going to fully embrace the video games. The high octane action from Shadow looks like it was pulled straight out of Sonic Adventure 2, the game where Shadow first made his debut. The music accompanying the trailer holds something for Sonic fans to get hyped about, featuring a similar motif to Crush 40’s track Live and Learn, also from Sonic Adventure 2.
Simply put, Sonic the Hedgehog 3 looks like it is going to be an electrifying experience.
Terrence J. Smith is MetaStellar's assistant fiction editor. He has contributed his writing to nonprofits and both print and digital publications. He enjoys all things technology, but remembers to meditate and appreciate the outside world.