Rated: M
Directed by: Martin Owen
Produced by: Ben Grass, Jason Maza, Noel Clarke and Matthew Williams
Starring: Raff Law, Sir Michael Caine, Lena Heady, Rita Ora, Franz Drameh, Sophie Simnett, David Walliams, Jason Maza and Noel Clarke.
Loosely based on the classic Dickens’ novel, Oliver Twist, we have an older version of Oliver introducing the film as a story with, ‘No singing, no danc’n, and definitively no happy end’n.’
Twist is a fast-paced, modern day heist movie featuring orphans more the twenty-year old variety, in other words, old enough to drink.
The main character, Twist (Raff Law – yes, that’s Jude Law’s son and looks the spit of him) is described as an extreme graffiti artist – getting up high on buildings so more people can see his work.
He’s also a freerunner, the camera angles following front, above, a helmet cam looking forwards as he runs and jumps and… twists (tee, hee, couldn’t help myself).
Twist says, ‘I was better on my own’.
But then he meets Red (Sophie Simnett).
She’s a freerunner too.
And belongs to people. To Fagin (Sir Michael Caine) who says thieving is surviving.
And to Fagin’s main crew, Batsey (Franz Drameh) and Dodge (Rita Ora); it’s like the family Twist thinks he doesn’t need but discovers he wants, ‘A family that eats together stays together,’ says Fagin.
Maybe Twist doesn’t want to be alone anymore.
And soon gets entangles in the next Big Job, only to discover there’s another player, Sikes (Lena Heady (Game Of Thrones)). She doesn’t play nice.
There’s some fun moments here – who doesn’t like watching the trickery of freerunning?! And some surprising violence.
The splice of music into the soundtrack from the radio or the jukebox was clever.
But sometimes it felt a bit trying, those light-hearted throwaway lines and inconceivable moments like landing in a carriage awaiting a bride and groom from a jump a good few stories above.
None of the jokes hit the mark.
And if you’re going to have the arrogance of strong-willed, baby-gangsters, some of that humour has to land otherwise it just feels like they’re being brats.
That required optimism and I’m-immortal overtones dragged on some of the cooler ideas of art imitating life (there’s a nice piece that warms the heart), but the film twists the concept into a space that becomes unbelievably optimistic.
And that’s OK. Because the film is directed at a younger audience.
Entertaining and although we all need some hope at the moment, Twist was a bit twee for my taste.
