Twist Review

 

Certificate: 12A

Running time: 92 minutes 

Starring: Raff Law, Lena Headey, Michael Caine, Rita Ora, Sophie Simnett, Franz Drameh

Directed by: Martin Owen

The story: A modern day take on Charles Dickens’ classic tale sees Oliver join a gang of thieves who hope to pull off an art heist.

The verdict: A quick look at the reviews for this film and the consensus isn’t good. Overwhelmingly criticised, one review even called Twist “a contender for worst film of the year.” Twist is a slightly tricky film to review for me, because whilst I recognised a lot of my issues within it, I throughly enjoyed it - and not in a “it’s so bad, it’s good way.”

Opening with an awesome freerunning sequence through London, Twist is great fun from the get go. Within minutes, an awesome flip of the screen had me exclaiming “cool!” 

Twist boasts a great cast with the likes of Lena Headey as a gender flipped Bill Sikes and Michael Caine as Fagin. I do feel that Twist doesn’t necessarily feature any particularly noteworthy performances and there is definitely a very “Cor blimey Guv’nor” aspect to all the performances that audiences will either enjoy or cringe at. However, I found Raff Law, who plays Oliver Twist, a very likeable screen presence and I was rooting for him from the start.

As an adaptation of Dickens’ novel, Twist does feel very modern and I did really like the heist aspect. However, in terms of bringing something wholly new, Twist feels like it is flirting with ideas but never fully explores them as much as it could have. In particular, I would have liked to have seen Headey’s role much more fleshed out.

But whilst Twist has its issues, as I mentioned above, I throughly enjoyed it. I was engaged throughout and I found it an easygoing and fun watch. Twist is a film that a wide audience can enjoy and I feel that if there was a sequel then I’d want to watch it. 

Twist might not be the film of the year but it certainly won’t be the worst.

The rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ and a half.