Over the last couple of years, live action video game adaptations have managed to finally earn some much deserved respect as a wealth of quality material finally cracked the code and treated its material with care and attention we never got back in the 90s. But while the crazed days of Street Fighter and Super Mario Bros. are seemingly now safely in our rear view mirror, I can’t help but feel that one of the genre’s recent saviors deserved a little more credit. Yes, the Sonic The Hedgehog trilogy and the animated Mario movie brought the box office and The Last Of Us brought the plaudits to the small screen. But over on Peacock, Twisted Metal was busting it’s ass trying to bring the awesome. Maybe I was a little biased as I personally played Twisted Metal 2 (aka. World Tour) to the bitter end back in the day, but goddammit did I love season 1 – so imagine my joy when when my wish was granted – Calypso style – and John Doe, Sweet Tooth and the gang were all announced to make a return for a second season. However, could it rev my engine as much as the first? Start your engines bitches, it’s time to find out.
Welcome back to the Divided States Of America where we find former Milk Man (read: delivery man), John Doe, discovering that his dream to be accepted into the walls of New San Francisco not only came with a cost, but proves to be immensely boring. Pining for his live on the road and his lover/companion, Quiet, close tabs are being kept on John to stop him escaping by the new Raven, who is far nastier that the old one and appears to be grooming Doe for some vehicle based tournament.
Meanwhile, in one of those coincidences that could only occur in a violently slapstick dystopia, Quiet has joined the righteous female gang led by Dollface who leads her people in brutal raids against the “Insiders”, but also turns out to be John’s long lost sister. However, while Quiet has risen up the ranks and has Dollface’s ear, her insistence that these raids are only going to cost them too much goes unhindered. Of course, if we’re catching up with some familiar faces, they don’t come more distinctive that roaming masked lunatic, Sweet Tooth, who with his new best friend, Stu, has been getting pretty irked by the fact that he’s not being hailed as the biggest psycho around and has been spending his time finding the maniacs that are more feared than he is and killing the crap out of them.
However, suddenly, for the space of one single message, all the power suddenly comes back on for the mysterious Calypso to make an offer: come race in a tournament and the last one standing will get their most desired wish. And just like that, all of our players now have a chance to get whatever they want – be it all of the world’s walls to be brought down, or just to be known as the most dangerous killer around. But as John mamages to escape and is soon attacked by the Dolls, Raven has a wish of her own she needs addressing, and it’s super personal.
Seriously, I’m super-hyped that Twisted Metal is back as this goofed up version of Mad Max on laughing gas not only adapted one of my most cherished gaming memories, but it was legitimately funny to boot, however, much in the same way the reboot of Mortal Kombat seemed to focus on world building instead of giving us the actual tournament that is the whole point of the game, the second season seems highly eager to rectify this as soon as it can. In fact, while the first season, with its candy coloured visuals and it’s violent, snarky humour could hardly be classed as shy, there’s a sense of renewed confidence here as not only does the show knows that it’s funky quirks were embraced, but it’s going out of its way to now hue far closer to the source material.
This means some rather abrupt changes have been made and they genuinely seem to be for the better. While I’m a big Sydney Prescott fan, Neve Campbell did seem a tad out of place as the tyrannical, pants suited Raven – but while the show replaces her off screen in a way that’s admittedly rather clumsy, the new Raven not only is far more game accurate, she’s also played by Patty Guggenheim who made such a splash as continously tipsy Madisynn in She-Hulk. Turfing out the stern business woman shtick and reforming the character as a former Goth thanks to a quick origin story back in San Jose during the mid ninties, we discover that this Raven has a weak spot in the form of her comatose childhood friend she keeps in an ambulance in to basement. Again, no disrespect to Campbell, by Guggenheim’s Raven is far more in keeping with the tone of the game and it’s just one of the many improvements that has this first episode feeling like such a smoother ride.
Other new faces include Anthony Carrigan (who seems to be having a banner year) as the arch baddie Calypso and Tiana Okoye as Dollface – aka. John’s sister who has Furiosa style plans to bring down all of the Mega-Cities with her masked sisters in arms, but while they both also seem to be fitting the bill nicely, future episodes will no doubt flesh them out.
Of course, that doesn’t mean that the established characters are left out in the cold and one of the best aspects about the original season is how well the show built up the ensemble to make up for the fact that there was no actual tournament taking place. Anthony Mackie continues to make his affable, man child amnesiac, John Doe, as energetic as possible, be it trying to hold secret meetings in showers while naked or reading virtually the entire run of The Baby-Sitters Club to desperately alleviate boredom while plotting to escape. Elsewhere, Stephanie Beatriz’s Quiet introduces us more into the world of Dollface’s gang as they continue to strike blows against the haves in order to try and help the have nots; but while it helps to introduce these new (or mostly new) forces into the rapidly thickening mix, there’s a sense that the season won’t truly slam into top hear until the two are reunited and their chemistry kicks back in.
Thank Calypso, then, for the triumphant return of the petty, deranged Sweet Tooth who once again is portrayed by wrestler Samoa Joe and voiced by Will Arnett, and who has a weird little subplot about jealously killing anyone he finds out have a bigger rep than he does. While his mismatched, buddy double act with Stu is still oddly sweet (pun not intended) but the sidebar nicely brings the crazy after a scuffle with a hulking brute named Big Baby who still breast feeds and has a mace attached to the end of a still attached umbilical chord. Nice.
A sprited return for Twisted Metal opens up the show to something far more accurate to the game with far more insane characters potentially lurking in the wings. But now season 2 has left the starting blocks, there’s plenty of opportunity for this zippy property to reach maximum carnage once it gets up to speed. Still funny, still crazy – but there’s the feeling that things are about to get far more twisted than ever before.
🌟🌟🌟🌟
We Have Issues 