Twisted Metal Completely Cuts Its Supernatural Roots (And That's A Good Thing)
When considering which gaming franchises were likely to get adapted in the wake of the success of "The Last of Us" and "The Super Mario Bros. Movie," "Twisted Metal" was probably not the first franchise you thought of. After all, being that the game is almost totally about people in cars shooting at each other, it doesn't necessarily sound like a very compelling story for the small screen to explore.
Still, Peacock's "Twisted Metal" is a lot of fun. Capturing the insane tone and bizarre characters of the PlayStation series, the adaptation is just tongue-in-cheek enough to work based on what we've seen so far. Largely, however, this is because of the more out-there elements that the series removes from the games rather than what it keeps in.
For instance, the most recognizable example fans will recognize is that Sweet Tooth's (Samoa Joe and Will Arnett) head isn't permanently on fire in the Peacock series. Also, characters like Mr. Grimm, who is a skeleton riding a motorcycle, and Axel, a guy who is permanently strapped into a car machine with massive tires, are notably absent. While some of the more hardcore members of the "Twisted Metal" fanbase might deride choices like these as unfaithful to the source material, this is ultimately the right way to go for a live-action adaptation.
The tournament is no longer run by a magic man either
While the "Twisted Metal" video game series functions via a man named Calypso who can grant the wishes of anyone who wins his car-fighting tournaments, the Peacock series also smartly drops this element in favor of simply having Raven (Neve Campbell) be in control of what appears to be the only functioning city in post-apocalyptic America.
As such, the "wish" that she can grant for John Doe (Anthony Mackie) is the ability to live a normal life in a safe, walled-in city with all of the conveniences and amenities that someone who lived in the pre-apocalypse days would recall. However, the only way that John can get this reward is by traveling across the most dangerous and lawless areas of America to make a delivery.
This provides the ability for "Twisted Metal" to still retain the car combat that the series is known for, but in a way that is more grounded. It also makes strapping weapons to cars more of a "Mad Max"-style function of the kind of society that this story is set in rather than a tournament of car fighters battling it out in increasingly ridiculous scenarios.
Though we can't say for sure that the tone will remain the same throughout the remainder of the first season or the series, from what we've seen in the first three episodes, these changes make "Twisted Metal" a much smarter and fun take on the game series than expected and a pleasant surprise as a result.