Twist

Updating the classics has always been a double edged sword. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. In this adaptation Dicken's novel is transported to modern London with street smart kids working for an irrascible Fagin played by Michael Caine. Large chunks are missed out of the original and characters are adjusted. Sykes is a woman and Nancy is the same age as Oliver. Taken as a stand alone this movie is not a bad effort. Some of the running over London's rooftops is good fun. Where the movie suffers is in continuity. Where are we in Dickens script.....or otherwise. But the only real problem is the portrayal of Sykes. Playing him as a Lesbian woman is quite a good idea but she is just not nasty enough. Mean in spirit, action and words but really just another thug with a gun. Sykes in the book or portrayed by Reed was a vicious bully but also a very complicated charactacter. This new Sykes tries to be nasty but comes across as flat and one dimentional. I enjoyed the movie, especially the portrayal of a modern street gang, but all seriously lacking the guts of the original.

Liked the idea of Oliver Twist being set in modern times, but this is poorly executed. The makers have tried way too hard to be gritty and street, so much so that it's like a parody of gangsta films. I mean, David Walliams makes an appearance for goodness sake. Throwing in a soundtrack featuring 90's Brit bands doesn't make it edgy either. Weak storyline, poor acting and unconvincing 'criminals' With the likes of Headey and Caine in it, it really should have been better.

I will start out by saying that I completely agree, this film clearly struggles with finding an audience and is clearly confused with who it's meant to appeal to. The violence it's "watered down/cartoonish" enough for a PG rating but with all the swearing (frequent uses of the four letter words including an F bomb) it wouldn't get a PG rating in the US. Another thing I found strange was the soundtrack which kept jumping between modern day hip hop and 90s-00s britpop, which further raised the question...Who is this film meant to appeal to?

I would in no way call this movie terrible as many of the reviews suggest. It's your standard paint by numbers art caper set to the story of Oliver Twist with a ridiculous amount of parkour added in. Parts of the movie are fun but nothing is really original, it feels like the type of movie you could watch on TV and not feel like you wasted your time. That's the level of entertainment I received from it at least...

Other reviews have criticised Twist for being a Parkour film. I would say that this is its only redeeming feature. It would be wrong to call all of the acting "wooden" but the overall standard is very low and Rita Ora must know this is not her strong suit. The references to Twist, Dodge, Fagin and Sykes just remind you that you could be watching a much (much) better film. The dialogue is clumsy and mechanical, with youth references crowbarred in with unintended comedic consequences. But some of the running and jumping is very good!

I can honestly say this movie was hard to sit through. I started to get headaches from the running and jumping scenes that added very little to the movie. Michael Caine was also awful. It's like he took the easy money then put in no effort. Then again there wasn't much to put effort towards. I'll be honest, most of the acting here was awful from Caine to Ora to Headley. Only Noel Clarke worked. Give this a miss. Another Sky production that fails to be worth it.