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Twisted Metal comes to Paramount+ after last year’s debut in the US on Peacock, and is based on the videogame from quite some time ago, although it does get an early reference in this show as a copy of the original PS1 game lands on John Doe’s (Anthony Mackie – Ghosted) windscreen.
He does get to CDs in his car – and I miss that ability in mine – but how much he can hear on a day-to-day basis is anyone’s guess, since while driving, he’s shooting everyone and everything, so that’ll drown most of it out.
His job? He’s a delivery man in a post-apocalyptic landscape, which obviously took some liberties from Mad Max. Add in some amnesia which makes no difference to his character from what I’ve seen so far, other than hoping I can quickly forget what I watched.
Every city is ‘New’ something, and New San Franscisco COO Raven (Neve Campbell – The Glass Man) wants him to deliver a package. She won’t tell him what’s in it, but if he does it, he gets to return and live there in a safe environment, which sounds like a good deal, although I’d kick him out for his constant verbal diarrhoea, as he never shuts up.
Elsewhere in the melee is mean-looking Quiet (Stephanie Beatriz – The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part 3D), who was stopped with her brother, Loud, by Agent Stone (Thomas Haden Church – Spider-Man: No Way Home More Fun Stuff Version 4DX), and from whom she gets separated, leading her to team up with Mr Doe.
Twisted Metal has been renewed for a second season, but after two episodes I’m rather bored of this. It’s just the same nonsense over and over, as well as throwing in its main baddie, Sweet Tooth. Okay, so repetitivity is basically what a videogame can often be, but a TV series or film require a coherent plot. Or even some semblance of one. The likes of Five Nights At Freddy’s also forgot about that.
All that said, the first season has a rating of 7.4/10 on IMDB, so they must be doing something right for the target audience, and for which I am not a part.
Thanks to our friends at Paramount+ for the screener prior to release.
Twisted Metal is not available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD, but is on Paramount+ from today.
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 30 minutes per episode (10 episodes)
Release date: March 21st 2024
Studio: Paramount+
Format: 2.20:1
Series Directors: Kitao Sakurai, Bill Benz, Maggie Carey, Jude Weng
Writers: Alyssa Forleiter, Ify Nwadiwe, Rhett Reese, Irving Ruan, Michael Jonathan, Paul Wernick, Grant DeKernion, Alison Tafel, Becca Black, Shaun Diston, Francesca Gailes, Jacqueline Gailes
Videogame creator: David Jaffe
Music: Leo Birenberg, Zach Robinson
Cast:
John Doe: Anthony Mackie
Quiet: Stephanie Beatriz
Raven: Neve Campbell
Agent Stone: Thomas Haden Church
Sweet Tooth (actor): Joe Seanoa
Sweet Tooth (voice): Will Arnett
Stu: Mike Mitchell
Mike: Tahj Vaughans
Loud: Richard Cabral
Jamie Roberts: Chelle Ramos
Carl Roberts: Michael Carollo
Shepard: Jared Bankens
Miranda Watts: Jamie Neumann
Amber Rose: Diany Rodriguez
Tinker: Angel Giuffria
Bill: Matthew Rimmer
Young John: Anthony Mackie Jr
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.