Sonic the Hedgehog Cinematic Universe Thread (& Knuckles)

I can't believe John Campea would just go and out Shadow the hedgehog as being canonically transgender like that.

 

Saw a fun theory, that ultimately I don't believe will end up being true, but is fun to think about.
Maddie states in the first movie that a Wachowski has been protecting Green Hills for at least 50 years, so it proposes that Tom's grandfather was the soldier that shot Maria and after the incident he left the military to become a local cop. It would at least give some reason for Tom to be involved in Sonic 3's story but I don't know if the writers are clever enough to pull that.

 

If they give Shadow a gun:

 

WAKE the fuck up hedgehog
​

 

Was Keanu's voice acting in Cyberpunk any good? I'll be honest...I don't think he's a great actor.

 

He's a good action star but not so great with dialogue which means he's completely fucked here unfortunately

Considering the history of Shadow's VAs I see him landing in the middle of the pack though. I don't think he's below the bar these movies have set for themselves either.

 

From what ive heard from him in Cyberpunk 2077 i actually think he seems like a pretty good voice actor, though he certainly has a very distinct tone and gruff to his voice. I like the casting choice but i need to hear it to know for sure of course, Im mostly just curious what direction they're going to give him.

 

Having only really watched the Matrix films for the first time in the last year, I'd say Keanu is a perfectly serviceable actor. He's not the most amazing to ever exist, but he does as well with a line as anyone could reasonably be expected to, and his voice makes sense for Shadow. The Sonic movies aren't trying to be masterpieces, he'll be fine.

 

Feel like he definitely has the voice for him. I think he can also do the cadence that David Humphrey had when he was more calm in scenes.

 

Yes, actually. He's very, very good in that game. I did a playthrough of the complete edition last december, blind, for the first time, and his role was the highlight for me, easily.

Yes, it's a character that plays to his type, and yes in some ways he can sound deadpan, but they gave him an unbelievably large amount of dialogue in the game, and he plays it all very well. He's actually my favorite part of that game and it's my favorite role of his.

You can tell the character was written with him in mind (despite being an adaptation of an existing character in the RPG world's lore), but it just works.

Shadow is... a meme character in the modern age. He does have substance, but so much of his existing english acting is essentially filled with memes and quotes and archetype cliches that Keanu's somewhat silly reads actually fit his style anyway. Keanu has just enough emotional depth to make for a compelling character while still being campy enough to tap into what the general fandom has latched onto for Shadow these days.

 

Last night I listened to a lot of his Cyberpunk voice lines in order to get a feel for how he may do as Shadow. Honestly, like Knuckles, it sounds like we will get a slightly different flavor of Shadow than what we're use to. But, I'm absolutely down for it. His voice doesn't sound too far off from other Shadow voices throughout the years.

This video shares how large his range is as an actor in general. He's definitely talented, hence his success. He mentions that he's new to the voice acting world.

 

I forgot that 'Wachowski' is Tom's last name, so at first I thought you were referring to the creators of the Matrix.

All connected.

 

To add onto this, his most recent outing in the 2020 Bill & Ted was fairly good iirc - he isn't majorly bodacious nowadays, but even in media like comedies he can prove to be most excellent when he needs to be.

 

I think he was pretty good in John Wick 4 too.

 

He's gotten worse in recent years. He came back for the Bill & Ted revival and he seemed to be phoning it in the whole time.

He's good at playing stoic cool action heroes like John Wick and Neo, but that's not the kind of character Shadow is. Then again, none of the movie interpretations match who their real characters are.

 

A "stoic action hero" is how I'd describe Shadow in numerous games, including one that this film is adapting.

 

I wish they'd hire a voice actor instead of a celebrity :/

 

tbh his acting in the John Wick movies is underrated too. yes they have amazing stunt work on his part and everything is immaculately choreographed, but one of the major scenes I remember in the first movie is him just outright screaming to someone that his ability to move on from his grief was stolen from him. He can act when it calls for it.

 

I remember meme-ing about Keanu being Shadow the moment everyone started speculating about who would voice Shadow in movie 3, haha... Also, I think people severely seem to underestimate the role, importance and involvement of the (Voice) Director. A good actor will act exactly the way they're told to- if their acting isn't good, it's not always an indication that they're a bad actor, but in many cases a bad Director who doesn't know much about Voice Direction.

 

Basically any Keanu role asks the question of "what if there was a dude who was rad as fuck" and you don't need range when that's your whole MO. Jason Momoa is the same way too.