I thought a TV adaptation of the video game TWISTED METAL would be garbage.
I never had any interest in the games, which indulged all of the worst video game tropes that teen boys latch onto: fast cars, a modicum of plot, outlandish but surface-level characters, and lots and lots of guns and dumb violence.
I was wrong. It’s smart, savvy, sexy, bloody, funny, surprisingly emotional, and full of verve and amazing quips. It’s not the great and disgusting and filthy genre-fuckery that is BLOOD DRIVE but it’s pretty goddamn close. It’s all about cars and cross-country adventures and being pursued and hunted and betrayed, all while bonding with others.
It’s DEATH RACE 2000 and DRIVE (remember DRIVE?!) and ROUTE 66/SUPERNATURAL with a smattering of Frank Miller’s GIVE ME LIBERTY (before he went all right-wing).
It may or may not be canceled, but I’m pretty sure we will not see a second season.
Anyway! We got one season with a very talented cast! Anthony Mackie as the deliverer! Stephanie Beatriz as the sidecar character ‘Quiet’ who spends a number of episodes without saying a word, which is wild when you have such a versatile voice actor in the cast! (Seriously, people often freak out when they hear Beatriz’s natural voice!) Will Arnett as the voice of the absurdly violent clown Sweet Tooth! Thomas Haden Church as the psychotic sheriff! Jason Mantzoukas as an unbridled preacher! Neve Campbell as the overseer!
Also? Holy hell, the set-pieces?! I can’t imagine how much time and money they spent on some of the absolutely physical and cataclysmic driving scenes, but the races and road-based bouts are absolutely thrilling and amazing, and for the most part embrace practical effects and real people!
And? They eat a lot of Skittles. There’s even a ballpit that the leading characters — spoiler alert — fuck in, and it’s 100% a Skittles riff.
I know it’s product-placement, but I fucking love me my Skittles. Favorite non-chocolate indulgence! Taste the rainbow! Hell, I have a bag in our cupboard and now I want to break it open! (And that’s not post-related product placement!) Candy is paramount in a post-apocalyptic future! (And Sweet Tooth obviously, uh, has a sweet tooth.)
I know TWISTED METAL on-paper looks like trash, but it’s smarter and more engaging than you’d think. Set that aside, make it a Sunday viewing, and revel in the violence as well as the downtime. It’s one hell of a ride.
“Toilet paper. Two-ply.”