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TWIST (2021)
Director: Martin Owen Cast: Raff Law, Sophie Simnett, Michael Caine, Lena Headey, Rita Ora, Franz Drameh, David Walliams, Noel Clarke, Stephen Uppal, Sally Collett MPAA
Rating: Running Time: 1:32 Release Date: 7/30/21 (limited; digital & on-demand) |
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Review by Mark Dujsik | July 29, 2021 Charles Dickens' novel Oliver Twist receives an uninspired update for the modern world in Twist. It's basically a generic heist story, in which our young protagonist and his fellow orphaned thieves are experts in parkour, free-running their way through a predictable plot. A lot of Dickens' major characters are here, including poor orphan Oliver (Raff Law) and fleecing ringleader Fagin (Michael Caine) and the villainous Sikes (Lena Headey), but don't overthink the fact that screenwriters John Wrathall and Sally Collett make it clear that Dickens' novel exists in this world. Definitely don't overthink the fact that the characters within this movie apparently are aware of the book (enough so that the cops realize the name "Fagin" is just an alias but not enough so to recognize every other similarity with the novel that exists here). Young Oliver loses his artist mother, grows up to become a graffiti artist, and spends most of his days finding higher and higher places to create his art. After rescuing Dodge (Rita Ora) from an encounter with the cops, Oliver is brought to Fagin's hideout. He's recruited to join the man's gang of young pickpockets and thieves, but all he really wants is to make is art and feel part of something like a family again. He also develops a bit of a crush on Red (Sophie Simnett), who is actually named Nancy and seen as a possession by the murderous Sikes. The plot involves Fagin's plan to rob some paintings from an art gallery owner (played by David Walliams). The young thieves enact a convoluted series of rather ludicrous plans and schemes, most of them giving the characters as many chances to run across, jump around, and climb up as many urban obstacles as possible. For all of the fast-cutting and camera trickery that director Martin Owens provides in these sequences, he fails to realize how transparent the movie's shallow gimmick is or how repetitive the constant running, jumping, and climbing turns out to be (The camera and editing tricks, often repeated, wear thin quickly, too). The filmmakers of Twist figured out a modern-day—for lack of a more appropriate word—twist, as shallow and pandering as it may be, for Dickens' story. The problem is that they didn't bother to determine how to make this story, these characters, or the central gimmick worth even that minimal effort. Copyright © 2021 by Mark Dujsik. All rights reserved. |
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