Sonic the Hedgehog 2: Combining wall-to-wall energy, goofy comedy and sincere love of the source material has made 2020's Sonic the Hedgehog a well-crafted piece of blockbuster entertainment that appealed to fans and non-fans of the game alike. By adding iconic characters Knuckles (voiced by Idris Elba) and Tails (voiced by Collen O'Shaughnessy-who also voices the character in the games) to the fold, the sequel finds a way to become more engaging without stripping away any of the things that worked so well the first time around. Putting Knuckles and Tails alongside Sonic allows the film to explore more of Sonic's intergalactic backstory, which means there's more heart and endearing buddy movie shenanigans underneath its goofy, hyperactive exterior along with the arrival of some pretty damn impressive CGI creature vs CGI creature action. As long as Paramount allows them to stick to the simple formula of having fun and finding a way to please the fans without soullessly pandering to them, the Sonic movie franchise will be in good shape for as long as it runs.
Grade: B
Metal Lords: Metal Lords provides the proud band of outsiders that gravitate towards metal at a young age with the high school comedy they've long deserved. Aside from the co-main character (newcomer Hunter Sylvester) gatekeeping some bands that true metal elitists would view as despicable posers or sellouts (Slipknot, Lamb of God, Metallica), the depiction of a pompous, often deliberately hostile metalhead and his obsession with starting a band with his nerdy best friend (Jaden Martell) that doesn't fully understand the appeal of the genre or what the scene is really about is pretty spot-on. Being someone who passionately embraces all things metal and swiftly condemns everybody who talks shit about or doesn't understand it is something that I recognize from my own experiences of falling in love with metal growing up and the reverence it shows for the genre and its fans is demonstrated not only by its understanding of what makes them tick, but the jokes it makes at their expense. While there's some eye-rolling contrivances present in its subplots (the metalhead kid's relationship with his rich plastic surgeon father, the romantic relationship and non-metal musical opportunity that steers the nerdy best friend away from the metalhead kid for a bit) that don't mesh overly well with its celebration of misfits coming together, any coming-of-age teen comedy where the obligatory feel-good finale involves a group of unsuspecting high school kids warmly receiving their peers playing a thrash metal song at a school-sponsored Battle of the Bands is alright in my book.
Grade: B
Dual: Writer/director Riley Stearns (Faults, The Art of Self-Defense) returns with another deeply cynical dark comedy that captures the organic absurdity and immortality of human life in deadpan fashion. Dual tells the story of Sarah (Karen Gillan), a young woman who decides to get a clone of herself after being diagnosed with a terminal illness. After Sarah makes a miraculous recovery, the clone decides she doesn't want to be decommissioned and the two are forced to engage in a duel to the death for the right to live Sarah's life. Stearns' script along with Gillan's terrific dual performances do a great job of juxtaposing the overwhelming coldness of the human characters (Beluah Koale, Maija Paunio and Aaron Paul portray the pivotal figures in Sarah's life) with the warmth and curiosity the clones enter their existence with, the comedy is Stearns' most effective to date with a lot of small details resulting in big comedic payoffs further down the line and while the purposefully approach to the ending will frustrate the hell out of some viewers, I found it to be a hilarious conclusion that played into many of the film's primary themes (self-image, the hypocritical struggle of fearing death and being unhappy with your own life, lack of empathy for the death of strangers) perfectly.
Grade: B
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