Twist Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		1.0
Overall		2.5

Twist Blu-ray Movie Review

Please, sir, I've had enough.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman September 27, 2021

Quick — name a television series starring Robert Wagner. It Takes a Thief: The Complete Series* and/or Hart to Hart: The Complete Series* are the obvious choices, right? OK, then, what about a series starring Eddie Albert? Well, it has to be Green Acres: The Complete Series*, doesn't it? Well, what about a series starring both Robert Wagner and Eddie Albert? That might stump even diehard television watchers, though some may recall there was a mid-seventies series called Switch, which was obviously modeled on the “caper antics with a twist” aspect of the then still relatively recent film The Sting, though with things updated to "contemporary" times. That use of “twist” in my description, along with some cover verbiage on this release about heists, con-men and other Sting-like proclivities, might lead some to wonder if Twist was itself some kind of one word titled update of a show like Switch. And indeed it turns out that Twist most definitely is an update of a venerable tale, albeit one that predates any of Robert Wagner’s or Eddie Albert’s or Paul Newman’s or Robert Redford’s outings, namely the iconic Charles Dickens novel which has been variously adapted as (among others) Oliver Twist and/or Oliver!. In fact this version begins with some voiceover by a now somewhat older Oliver Twist (Rafferty Law, who bears a rather strong resemblance to his father) letting the audience know that there will be “no singing and no dancing and definitely no happy ending”, though some might argue that all three of those “no”’s are discarded in one form or another along the way.

*Note: The links point to DVD releases, not Blu-rays.

In this version, Twist (as he's now known) is a late teens or early twentysomething kid who is skilled at both parkour (hey, that's kinda sorta dancing) and "tagging" various urban locales with elaborate graffiti art, a la Banksy. Twist is also something of a scavenger and an early attempt to forage some food (?) from a dumpster leads to him being chased around the busy streets of London. By fate or the connivance of screenwriters Sally Collett, Martin Owen and John Wrathall, Twist almost immediately "meets cute" with a band of merry men and women who invite him to a rather luxe warehouse where Fagin (Michael Caine) stores all the booty from his efforts at thievery, and where his charges live lives of relative ease. This is a most different proposition from Dickens' Fagin and crew, where menace and threats were never very far from the surface, something that made the involvement of kids in the original and the more true to the source adaptations feel positively discomfiting at times. Instead here they're all a happy little "family" without any tension or dysfunction, other than the occasional involvement of Sikes (Lena Headey), who despite the "gender reassignment" is probably one of the closer characters to Dickens' original formulation in this version.

The Artful Dodger is another "newly female" character in this version, now slightly renamed Dodge, and played by Rita Ora, which is where the singing comes in, at least over the closing credits. One assumes the stand in for Nancy is supposed to be Red (Sophie Simnett), who in fact is involved with Sikes (take that, cultural zeitgeist), but who rather interestingly also has a relationship with Twist in this version. The whole "revisiting Oliver Twist" angle, while a diverting conceit, actually ends up almost playing second fiddle to the ultimate caper aspect of the film, which involves Twist's artistic abilities, a snooty art thief named Crispin Losberne (David Walliams) and some history between Losberne and Fagin, which results in an art heist.

Twist has fitful moments of energy, though it may simply be too diffused to ever really register very strongly. Caine makes for an awfully avuncular Fagin, without much of an apparent edge, which gives the character an almost grandfatherly mien in this version. It's interesting to note that Noel Clarke, who has recently undergone a spate of pretty bad publicity which has seen him "cancelled" in some quarters (including at Sky, which is a production entity on this project), is on hand here as both a co-producer and co-star. He's actually partnered with Jason Maza in both of those roles (literal and figurative), with the two playing cops in scenes that seem unnecessary.

With regard to that opening promise of "no singing, no dancing and no happy ending," the third element of that particular triumvirate is of course not dispensed with, either, though there's a bit of a bittersweet quality to it.

Note: My colleague Brian Orndorf is even less enthusiastic about Twist than I am. You can read Brian's thoughts here.

Twist Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Twist is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. There's no technical data online that I could find, but this is an appealing looking presentation that I assume was digitally captured and finished at a 2K DI. As can be gleaned from some of the screenshots, there are stylistic proclivities abounding, including lots of graded or lit shots that add a pleasant variety of tones to various scenes, all of which pop quite nicely. Detail levels are strong throughout the presentation, though there are some noticeable drop offs in a few establishing shots (perhaps sourced from stock footage), as well as a couple of very dark interior scenes.

Twist Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Twist features a robust DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track that benefits from a glut of source cues (which actually may end up bothering some, since they're kind of cliché ridden at times), as well as some good surround effects in some of the outdoor material, particularly the parkour sequences. Even the interior scenes in Fagin's den (warehouse?) of iniquity or a later sequence documenting the art heist feature well placed effects and some nicely immersive passages. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English and Spanish subtitles are available.

Twist Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• The Artful Dodger: Twist's Underworld (HD; 25:45) is an above average featurette with a lot of interviews and behind the scenes footage. There's the expected several minute homage to Michael Caine, but commendably Caine himself appears in some of the interviews.

Additionally a digital copy is included, and packaging features a slipcover.

Twist Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The whole caper aspect of this story didn't really need to be shoehorned into an update of Oliver Twist, and at times I felt like I was watching a very special episode of Leverage with the characters cosplaying in a modernized Dickens mode. There are probably too many distractions here, including both the parkour and graffiti aspects, which only further detract from the Dickens source. Still, the film has intermittent energy and style, for those who are fans of any of the cast members. Technical merits are solid and the making of EPK fairly enjoyable, for those who are considering making a purchase.