At this point, the only Fast and Furious movies people care about have speedster furry aliens blitzing through the screen, as the Sonic The Hedgehog franchise has struck gold once again with the third movie of the franchise, Sonic the Hedgehog 3. With the introduction of the iconic antihero of the Sonic franchise, Shadow the Hedgehog, voiced by Keanu Reeves, and the return of Jim Carrey, who played both Gerald and Ivo Robotnik this time around, the success of the threequel was never in doubt. Still, director Jeff Fowler, who is carefully building this cinematic universe one movie and one character at a time, never took the audience for granted and delivered what fans were asking for and more. As the franchise continues to set a high bar for live-action movie adaptations of gaming series, the third installment proves to be possibly the best, balancing darkness, humor, and emotional beats of the narrative with a certain deftness.
Spoilers Ahead
Strange Visitor: Why Did Shadow Want Revenge Against GUN?
The movie opens in a GUN supermax prison in Japan, where Shadow, an anthropomorphic hedgehog, essentially a darker version of Sonic with even more enhanced powers due to being imbued with chaos energy, has been trapped in suspended animation for the last fifty years. After Gerald Robotnik, grandfather of Ivo Robotnik, aka Eggman, hacks into the prison facility, Shadow is released from his bond and wreaks havoc by breaking out of the prison. Taking down GUN prison guards in quick succession, Shadow swears revenge upon the agency for their dastardly actions in the past, and through several flashback scenes scattered through the movie, Shadow’s tragic past comes to light.
Unlike Sonic, who had arrived on Earth through the ring portal, Shadow literally had a rough landing, as fifty years ago he’d crashed near Oklahoma while encased in a meteorite of unknown origin. Unlike Sonic, who found love and warmth under the care of the Wachowski family, Shadow was introduced to a bitter life since his arrival on earth. Under Captain Walter’s leadership, GUN took Shadow into their custody and, dubbing him as the ‘Ultimate Life Form,’ tried to harness/weaponize his chaos energy. Professor Gerald Robotnik was in charge of supervising the experiments of Project Shadow, and his granddaughter, Maria, had formed a strong bond of friendship with Shadow. Shadow lacked a sense of identity, as he was aware that the ones experimenting on him considered him a freak and feared him. Maria, who considered Shadow her friend, believed in the goodness of his heart – and was the only person who had treated Shadow with love and kindness.
However, on one occasion, Gerald tried to flee with Shadow and Maria after learning that GUN was going to take Shadow away from them to suit their own agenda. As they were fleeing, one of the GUN operatives tried to shoot them and accidentally caused an explosion by firing at the harnessed chaos energy reserve—which ended up killing Maria. Gerald was blamed for the entire ordeal and was imprisoned, while Shadow was put into suspended animation by Commander Walter. Getting freed from his prison, Shadow decides to begin his quest for vengeance to bring those responsible for the demise of his dear friend to justice.
Why Did Team Sonic Join Hands With Ivo Robotnik?
Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles are having the time of their lives with the Wachowski couple in their house at Green Hills, and the extended family has decided to throw a party to celebrate Sonic’s arrival on the planet. As Sonic reminisces about his past and laments the loss of his mentor, Longclaw, his best friend and idol, Tom, shares his belief about Sonic’s inherent goodness. Sonic didn’t let his painful past define him, and Tom believes that if Sonic listens to his heart, he will never lose his way.
As Shadow’s rampage in Tokyo begins, Commander Walter sends GUN Director Rockwell to summon Team Sonic for help. However, Shadow takes on the trio of Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails and defeats them with ease. Later on, Commander Walter meets the team and informs Sonic about Shadow’s sordid past. However, before the commander is able to share anything else, Robotnik’s drones launch an attack that claims the life of Commander Walter. Before breathing his last, the commander entrusts Sonic with the keycard to a GUN superweapon, the Eclipse Cannon, to keep it from falling into the wrong hands. However, as Team Sonic leaves, Rockwell, who was skeptical about their intentions from the get-go, misinterprets the situation, and considers Sonic and co. to have gone rogue and stolen the keycard.
Team Sonic comes across Agent Stone, who denies his mentor, Ivo’s role in the drone attack, and takes them to Ivo—who has supposedly survived following the events of Sonic 2. A reclusive Ivo is furious upon realizing someone else is using his inventions, and he begrudgingly decides to join hands with his archenemy to hunt down this common adversary. Ivo’s search leads Team Sonic to the GUN facility, which once used to be Shadow’s ‘home,’ where Maria met her tragic end.
What Was Gerald Robotnik’s Plan?
Shadow, who had returned to his ‘home’ before the arrival of Team Sonic, manages to capture all the furry speedsters. Shadow and Ivo come across Gerald Robotnik, who is revealed to be responsible for breaking Shadow free and launching the drone attack on Walter. Ivo, who was suffering from an existential crisis for so long without having anyone to call family, is surprised to meet his grandfather, and the duo quickly bond. Shadow too finds a common motive with Gerald, who wants to seek vengeance for his granddaughter Maria by destroying GUN headquarters in London using the Eclipse Cannon—the same superweapon which he had designed for the agency in exchange for his freedom. Gerald takes the keycard of the Eclipse Cannon from Sonic, and it is revealed that in order to launch the weapon, they will have to obtain the other half of the keycard from a heavily fortified GUN headquarters in London. As the trio of Shadow and the Robotniks proceed to set their plan in motion, Shadow creates a singularity using the Chaos Emerald, nearly decimating Team Sonic, who somehow manage to escape with a teleportation ring.
Team Sonic returns to the Wachowski household and takes help from Tom and Maddie to infiltrate the GUN HQ in London to take the other half of the keycard before Team Robotnik gets their hands on it. However, a chaotic situation ensues as both Team Robotnik and GUN operatives led by Director Rockwell take on Team Sonic. Tom manages to obtain both the keycards, but as he tries to flee, taking the disguise of Commander Walter, Shadow mistakes his identity and ends up grievously injuring him. Shadow, Ivo, and Gerald access the Eclipse Cannon, which turns out to be a Death Star-like mechanism, as it reaches orbit and begins the energy projection launch sequence. Shadow’s chaos energy powers the weapon, and Gerald reveals his true intention of decimating not only the GUN HQ but the entirety of the planet itself.
What Caused Shadow’s Change of Heart?
Witnessing Tom’s predicament, a distraught, furious Sonic becomes desperate to take revenge on Shadow and co., and to defeat them he decides to use the Master Emerald to transform into his Super Sonic state—despite Tails and Knuckles advising him not to give in to his anger. Sonic obtains the Master Emerald from Wade Whipple—Knuckles’ good friend who played a crucial role in providing Knuckles a sense of family and togetherness as seen in the “Knuckles” series. In his transformed state, Sonic takes on Shadow for a rematch, and as the Master Emerald splits into Chaos Emeralds, Shadow too reaches his heightened Super Shadow state. The duo battles all across the world as Ivo and Gerald appear to have a disagreement with each other. A vengeful Gerald wants to destroy the world itself to avenge his granddaughter, while Ivo wants to rule over the world instead of annihilating it. However, as Gerald destroys the control panel, it becomes impossible to stop the weapon launching.
Sonic finally overpowers Shadow and almost decides to end him until Tom’s faith in Sonic’s goodness stops him from taking a drastic step. Shadow goads Sonic to deliver the death blow, but Sonic decides to shun his vengeful self and offers counsel to Shadow instead. Sonic reveals his personal tragedy of losing his mentor Longclaw and how the love and bond he shared with her amount to more than the loss he suffered. Shadow is finally able to look at things in a new light as he remembers Maria’s trust in him, and he agrees to help Sonic to stop Gerald’s evil plan.
What Happened to Robotnik and Shadow?
In Sonic 3’s ending, Ivo is able to take down Gerald with the unexpected help from Knuckles and Tails, while Sonic and Shadow, still in their transformed state, try to divert the weapon away from Earth. As the weapon launches, Sonic and Shadow stand against the energy beam, which narrowly misses Earth, averting a seemingly inevitable disaster, but ends up slicing off part of the Moon. An exhausted Sonic freefalls from space, prompting Knuckles and Tails to go after their friend to save him. However, the Eclipse Cannon reactor grows increasingly unstable, and with no option to stop it, Ivo and Shadow team up to take it away from Earth’s orbit. In his final moments, Ivo sends a heartfelt message to his protégé, Agent Stone, acknowledging his loyalty and importance in his life. As the Eclipse Cannon gets destroyed, Shadow and Ivo Robotnik seemingly sacrifice themselves to save the planet. Team Sonic returns to the Wachowski household to celebrate their victory, as Tom is revealed to be gradually recovering from his injuries.
Sonic Universe Expands
In the mid-credits scene, Sonic is revealed to have been lost in a jungle following a race with Knuckles and Tails, and he gets attacked by a team of Metal Sonic. At this moment, a pink hedgehog, whom game series fans will surely recognize to be the energetic Amy Rose, appears out of the shadows and swiftly takes down the metallic doppelgangers of Sonic. With her introduction, the Sonic universe expands further, and the fourth Sonic movie will probably focus on her origin and the reason for her arrival.
Shadow Is Still Alive
In the post-credit sequence of Sonic The Hedgehog 3, it is shown that Shadow has survived the Eclipse Cannon destruction and has landed somewhere on Earth. As for Ivo Robotnik, I think he has cheated death as well—given it is a gaming movie franchise after all, and there is a strong chance that we will see Ivo and Shadow return in the fourth installment as well. Given how much audiences have loved Keanu Reeves’ version of Shadow, I won’t be surprised if makers decide to give him a solo spin-off series as well, exploring his origin in detail.