Blu-ray SteelBook Review: KNUCKLES

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Sep 02 Posted by Kyle Nolan in DVD/Blu-ray, Reviews | Comments

The Paramount+ orginal series Knuckles follows the events of the Sonic The Hedgehog 2 feature film. Knuckles (Idris Elba), an alien and last of the Echidna warriors, has just helped to stop Dr. Robotnik and save the Earth. Without a new quest to go on, he should now be able to just relax and make himself at home. But he’s having trouble adjusting to Earth life in Green Hills, Montana, often causing havoc at the Wachowski home. Maddie (Tika Sumpter) is getting frustrated, and grounds him. Meanwhile, bumbling local cop Wade Whipple (Adam Pally) has just been kicked off of his bowling team, before the most important tournament of his life. After a visit from a ghostly Chief Pachacamac (Christopher Lloyd), Knuckles decides to take Wade under his wing, and train him in the ways of the Echidna warrior, so that Wade can compete in the Tournament of Champions in Reno.

However, as the two head off on a road trip to Nevada, they find themselves pursued by two rogue GUN agents—Agent Willoughby (Ellie Taylor) & Agent Mason (Scott Mescudi)—who are trying to capture Knuckles to sell him to a ruthless buyer (Rory McCann, Game of Thrones) who’s looking to harness his alien power for weapons. Also after the duo are several folks looking to claim a bounty on Wade’s head, including Wade’s former bowling teammate, professional bounty hunter Jack Sinclair (Julian Barratt). Along the way, we also meet Wade’s eccentric family—his smothering mother Wendy (Stockard Channing), ambitious FBI agent sister Wanda (Edi Patterson, The Righteous Gemstones), and estranged father Pistol Pete Whipple (Cary Elwes, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning), who abandoned his family years earlier to pursue his professional bowling career.

Knuckles is a blast from start to finish, finding a thoroughly-entertaining blend of action and humor. While the series is called Knuckles, much of the focus is on the character of Wade, an overly-confident young man who is constantly over-estimating his abilities. However, luck (and Knuckles) always seem to be on his side, to get him out of a sticky situation. Despite being abandoned by his father, Wade followed in his footsteps and found a love of bowling. Now he is determined to make it to the bowling tournament and reunite with his father, but will this man live up to the expectations he has built up in his head all these years?

Knuckles is initially annoyed by Wade, and doubts that he has what it takes to become an Echidna warrior. But as they spend more time together on their road trip, they start to form a bond, and Knuckles sees that they have several similarities. As they come up against various obstacles and foes, Knuckles finds ways to test and train Wade. Adam Pally has made a career out of playing this kind of wacky and dorky character, and does it so well. But Idris Elba is also hilarious as the sort of straight man to Wade, with Knuckles’ more calculated and reserved mannerisms leading to a lot of humorous situations.

The supporting cast is also wonderful, especially those playing Wade’s oddball family. Wade and his sister Wanda are constantly bickering and fighting like 10-year-olds, and Edi Patterson is perfect in this role, having a similar dynamic with her character’s siblings on The Righteous Gemstones; Stockard Channing had me constantly laughing as the overly smothering Jewish mother, especially the way she pronounces Knuchles; and Cary Elwes always plays these smarmy, self-centered characters so well. There are many other hilarious characters/actors throughout the series, but Rob Huebel and Paul Scheer are particularly great as the ESPN 8 commentators for the bowling tournament. I’m not sure how much of their banter was scripted or improv-ed, but it was very funny.

While each of the series’ six episodes tells its own self-contained mini story or takes the characters on some mini mission, the episodes also flow seamlessly into one another making the entire series also feel like a solid three-hour feature. Anything is fair game in this show—there’s even an amazing rock opera musical number (sung by Michael Bolton) with characters dressed in Knuckles costumes, Knuckles quoting Pretty Woman, a Cyrano-like moment with Knuckles helping Wade talk to his dad, an ’80s style bowling montage set to Paul Engemann’s “Push It To The Limit”, and more.

I watched this series when it was first released on Paramount+, and enjoyed it just as much this second time around via Blu-ray. While this was billed as a limited series, and it tells a complete story, I would love to see it get another season.

Paramount Home Entertainment has released Knuckles on standard Blu-ray & DVD as well as a Limited Edition SteelBook, and a MOD 4K UHD release. We were sent the SteelBook version for review. The video looks immaculate, with a clean, detailed picture, even when Knuckles’ powers cause bright red flashes, or during a fight sequence in the glowing neon of a cosmic bowling alley. The audio track provides clear dialogue as well as a fully immersive experience as the sound of the more action-packed scenes fills the room. The series also has an amazing soundtrack of 80’s and 90’s music, which is perfectly selected to fit each scene and add some comedic effect, such as Scandal’s “The Warrior” and Bonnie Tyler’s “Holding Out For a Hero”.

The show’s 6 episodes are all on s single disc, which is placed on the right side of the beautiful looking SteelBook case, with a cardboard J-card placed over the top/back, detailing the contents of the release. Likely because it’s a TV series, the release unfortunately doesn’t include any digital copy. But the disc does contain about 13 minutes of bonus material, including interviews with the cast and crew and a fun gag reel.

What’s Included:

Episodes: (2:51:07)

All 6 episodes of the series:
“The Warrior”, “Don’t Ever Say I Wasn’t There For You”, “The Shabbat Dinner”, “The Flames of Disaster”, “Reno, Baby”, “What Happens in Reno, Stays in Reno”
1080p / Widescreen 2.39:1
Audio: English Dolby Atmos, English Audio Description, German 5.1 Dolby Digital, French 5.1 Dolby Digital
Subtitles: English SDH, German, French

Extras:

Cast Featurette (1:53)
The cast talks about the series. Includes behind-the-scenes footage, and interviews with stars Idris Elba (“Knuckles”), Adam Pally (“Wade Whipple”), Scott Mescudi (“Agent Mason”), Ellie Taylor (“Agent Willoughby”), Edi Patterson (“Wanda Whipple”), Stockard Channing (“Wendy Whipple’), Cary Elwes (“Pistol Pete Whipple’) & Rory McCann (“The Buyer”).
Working with Knuckles (1:03)
The cast talks about working with Knuckles. This tongue-in-cheek featurette includes interviews with stars Adam Pally, Scott Mescudi, Cary Elwes, Knuckles (“The Echidna Warrior”), Rory McCann, Edi Patterson & Ellie Taylor.
This or That? (1:03)
The cast answers rapid-fire questions, choosing between two options.
“Knuckles Impressions (1:03)
Star Idris Elba comments on the other cast members’ attempts at impressions of Knuckles— Adam Pally, Scott Mescudi, Rory McCann & Edi Patterson.
Gag Reel (7:30)
Fun with the cast as they flub and forget lines, improvise, act against a Knuckles puppet, and just have fun on set.

Final Thoughts:

My Rating

Episodes:

Video:

Audio:

Extras:

Highly Recommended

I absolutely loved Knuckles, finding it thoroughly-entertaining from start to finish—just as much the second time around. The story is perfectly crafted to work both episode-by-episode as well as as a three-hour feature. It is filled with lots of action and humor, and stars Adam Pally and Idris Elba have great chemistry. They are joined by a hilarious and talented supporting cast. Paramount’s SteelBook Blu-ray release looks and sounds fantastic, and includes a small but entertaining assortment of bonus material. I can’t imagine it looking much better than it already does, but the series will also be available on an MOD 4K disc. This series comes highly recommended for any fan of the recent Sonic movies, but folks who haven’t seen those film can still fully enjoy this Knuckles series on its own.