REVIEWS
82 | Sight&Sound | May 2020Reviewed by Jasper Sharp
In the 1991 hit Sega Mega Drive
game Sonic the Hedgehog, the
player controlled the nimble,
gravity-defying title character as
he hurtles across garish worlds
of platforms, slides and loop-the-loops, avoiding
spikes and baddies while gathering gold rings
as armament for showdowns with his fiendish
nemesis Dr Robotnik and his various minions.
It was so pared-down, frenetic and trippy, its
backstory so gleefully irrelevant and nonsensical,
one could do pretty much anything with it.
This long-mooted movie adaptation provides a
more straightforward dash through recognisably
real-world settings. A brief prologue shows how
Sonic, using a teleporting ring, escapes from the
otherworldly island idyll of his upbringing when
attacked by evil creatures wishing to harness his
supersonic powers. Ten years on he is leading
a furtive, lonely existence in the woods around
a one-horse Montana town so sleepy that its
solitary traffic cop, Tom, is reduced to whiling
away his working hours pointing his speed
camera at tortoises on the empty road. When
Sonic’s supersonic activities attract militaryReviewed by
Ginette Vincendeau
There is something initially
promising about this story
of a middle-aged university
lecturer, Claire (Juliette
Binoche), who reinvents herself online as the
gorgeous young ‘Clara’, on the rebound from
disappointing men. The film begins with a
passionate sex scene between Claire and her
younger lover, Ludo (Guillaume Gouix); but
he soon ditches her over the phone. From
conversations with her two adolescent sons, we
understand that her separation from ex-husband
Gilles (Charles Berling), now with another
woman, has been rancorous. This sets the scene
for Claire’s virtual seduction of Alex (François
Civil), Ludo’s even younger business partner.
For a while, it looks as though Who You Think
I Am is going to comment on the unbalanced
power relations between men and women, which
see older women relegated to the scrapheap
while older men enjoy younger women – as
one of Claire’s friends says, “You say cougar
for a woman, but what is the word for a man?”
Unfortunately, and despite Binoche’s typically
nuanced performance, the film’s critique of sexist
ageism more or less ends there. As the story
unfolds, through her conversations with therapist
Dr Bormans (Nicole Garcia), Claire appears
increasingly desperate and unsympathetic,
her actions amounting to the manipulation
of an innocent young man; meanwhile, she is
neglecting her children. When she reveals that
the photographs of the extremely beautiful ‘Clara’
are of her niece Katia (Marie-Ange Casta), who
now lives with her husband, the story becomes
a cliché about the revenge of a bitter womanattention, he is ousted from his hidey-hole by
government go-to guy Robotnik and his deadly
swarm of flying egg droids, and embarks on
a road trip with Tom to San Francisco, where
the ring has mysteriously transported itself.
The fun tone of the games is conveyed nicely
in, for instance, a rip-roaring road chase in which
Sonic lays waste to Robotnik’s armoured van
with his trademark Spin Dash Attack, and a time-
frozen bar-room brawl homaging the kitchen
scene in X-Men: Days Of Future Past (2014). One
itches for a few more such moments, though.
The film hit the headlines last April when
an online teaser trailer provoked a massive fan
backlash, resulting in a six-month delay while
its main character was redesigned to be more
in tune with his original puckish persona. One
wonders who the target audience is for a movie
pitched at kids which features a character so
central to the zeitgeist of the pre-internet 16-bit
heyday of early-1990s gaming. But the reworked
Sonic is perky enough and integrates comfortably
with the live action. Still, he can’t compete with a
characteristically manic Jim Carrey, stealing the
show as Robotnik – regrettably side-lined by a
hackneyed odd-couple-buddy-movie narrative.Sonic the Hedgehog
Director: Jeff Fowler
Certificate PG 98m 46sWho You Think I Am
France/Belgium 2018
Director: Safy Nebbou
Certificate 15 102m 0sSonic, a preternaturally speedy blue hedgehog from
another dimension, is forced out of the woodlands
surrounding Green Hills, Montana, after triggering a
sonic boom that knocks out the regional power supply.
The US military send in Dr Robotnik to locate its source.
Small-town police officer Tom Wachowski discovers
Sonic hiding in his shed: in the ensuing scuffle the
magic ring that allows Sonic to escape to the safety
of Mushroom Planet is teleported to San Francisco,where Tom’s wife Maddie is staying with her sister. A
friendship develops as Tom drives Sonic to find the ring,
chased by Robotnik and his army of deadly droids. Sonic
retrieves the ring from the top of the Transamerica
Pyramid Tower, where Robotnik catches up with him.
As they battle, the ring whisks them through a series
of international landmarks. Robotnik is trapped on
Mushroom Planet; the others return to Green Hills,
where Sonic moves into Tom and Maddie’s attic.Produced by
Neal H. Moritz
Toby Ascher
Toru Nakahara
Takeshi Ito
Written by
Pat Casey
Josh Miller
Based on the Sega
video game
Director of
Photography
Stephen F. WindonEditors
Stacey Schroeder
Debra Neil-Fisher
Production Designer
Sean Haworth
Music
Tom Holkenborg
Production
Sound Mixer
David Husby
Costume Designer
Debra McGuire
Visual EffectsBlur Studio
Digital Domain
Marza Animation
Planet
Method Studios
MPC
Stunt Co-ordinator
Garvin Cross
Production
Companies
Paramount
Pictures presentsin association with
Sega Sammy Group
an Original Film/
Marza Animation
Planet/Blur Studio
production
Executive Producers
Hajime Satomi
Haruki Satomi
Masanao Maeda
Nan Morales
Tim MillerCast
James Marsden
Tom Wachowski
Ben Schwartz
voice of Sonic
Tika Sumpter
Maddie Wachowski
Jim Carrey
Dr Ivo Robotnik
Lee Majdoub
Agent Stone
Adam Pally
Billy RobbNeal McDonough
Major Bennington
Frank C. Turner
Crazy Carl
In Colour
[2.35:1]
Distributor
Paramount
Pictures UKGame on: Jim CarreyHook online and sinker: Juliette BinocheCredits and SynopsisAvailable
on VOD
platforms
in the UKAvailable
on VOD
platforms
in the UK