Sonic and Bloodshot

A Double Feature Review: Both of these films were viewed before the COVID-19 shutdown. Please stay inside, stay healthy, and watch some movies.

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Sonic the Hedgehog

Sonic the Hedgehog is a colorful, energetic, and family-fun adventure — keeping the mood light and always moving. This video game-inspired film might just be the dash of escapism we all need right now. Lauded by Jim Carrey's goofy charm, Sonic lets him loose. On top of that, we get a wonderful voice performance by Ben Schwartz (Jean-Ralphio from Parks and Rec). Schwartz brings a sense of charisma to the table for Sonic and his voice, while Carrey's performance as  Dr. Robotnik is a real hoot. The first trailer for Sonic was unveiled in April 2019 at CinemaCon in Las Vegas. Sonic's first appearance was heavily criticized by fans and critics alike. For good reason too, Sonic's first CGI appearance was uncanny to the eyes. Sonic's humanoid-like features were horrendous and did an injustice to the beloved video game character. Within two days, the trailer was viewed more than 20 million times on YouTube and had received hundreds of thousands of "dislike" ratings, drastically outnumbering the "like" ratings. The trailer also had Twitter fall into a polarizing frenzy.

Luckily, the director, Jeff Fowler, took note of the heavy criticism and decided to completely redo Sonic's appearance and CGI features. The redesign added an estimated $5 million to the production budget and took around five months — pushing back the film to February 2020. In the end, this decision was worth it and kept our Sonic faithful to his original self. Sega should be happy with the end result, I know I was. So, after discovering our small, blue, fast-running hedgehog (voiced by Schwartz), a small-town police officer (James Marsden) must help him defeat an evil genius (Carrey) who wants to do experiments on him. That's as far as the plot goes, but there is enough wit and adventure to keep the film moving for the whole family. While these last two months have been stressful and the future is looking weary, sometimes you just need a fun escapist movie to get you through. With vivid colors, action sequences, and silly humor — Sonic the Hedgehog might be the film to brighten us up.

Sonic the Hedgehog is rated PG (Parental Guidance) For action, some violence, rude humor and brief mild language.

Directed by Jeff Fowler

Starring Ben Schwartz as Sonic, Jim Carrey as Dr. Robotnik, James Marsden, Tika Sumpter, Natasha Rothwell, and Neal McDonough.

Bloodshot

Bloodshot just isn't worth your time. Slicing through all of its padded mediocrity, Bloodshot marks a new low for Vin Diesel's career. This action movie hangover scraps together '90s comic book storytelling with bloated CGI and dull action sequences. Our story follows Ray Garrison (Diesel), a slain soldier, who is re-animated with superpowers and brought back to life as the superhero Bloodshot. That's about as much plot as you need to know. The rest of the premise is pretty much watching Diesel flex his muscles, taunt the cameras, and engage in tiresome CGI fight sequences — leaving the audience bored from this dull and forgettable experience. Unfortunately, Bloodshot doesn't even manage to fall into the "So Bad, It's Good" category. Instead, Bloodshot ends up just being a pile of sci-fi action trash. Like Forky exclaiming "I'm Trash!" in Toy Story 4, that sentence becomes a reality with Bloodshot.

Bloodshot is rated PG-13 (Parents Strongly Cautioned) For intense sequences of violence, some suggestive material and language.

Directed by David S. F. Wilson — his first feature film ... yikes!

Starring Vin Diesel, Eiza Gonzalez, Sam Heughan, Toby Kebbell, Talulah Riley, Lamorne Morris, and Guy Pearce.