Directed by Martin Owen
Written by Sally Collett, Martin Owen, John Wrathall
Starring Michael Caine, Lena Headey, Rafferty Law, Rita Ora, Sophie Simnett, and Noel Clarke
Rated R
Runtime: 1 hour 32 minutes
In theaters, digital and on demand July 30

by Adaeze Nwoko, Staff Writer

Twist attempts to borrow credibility from Charles Dickens's famous novel for an otherwise subpar and lackluster heist film. Martin Owen’s Twist is inspired by Oliver Twist in the way that Taylor Swift's “Love Story” is inspired by Romeo and Juliet. The cast of characters share names with those in Dickens’ notable piece, and feature theft. That appears to be where the “inspiration” begins and ends. The version of Oliver Twist (Rafferty Law) we meet in this film is fully grown, (or is he a teenager?) orphaned graffiti artist in search of a family. He gets roped into a life of crime (well, one crime) by a crew working in service of Fagin (Michael Caine), a disgraced art dealer. Things start to go awry for Twist when he botches an art heist, forcing him to contend with Sikes' (Lena Headey), the villain of the movie, wrath.

The disjointed tone of this film is jarring. It flips from dingy and dark to light bright in a nonsensical fashion. Some scenes seem to only exist to satisfy tropes that exist in this genre of film. The screenplay is stuck between a romance, a heist film, and a gritty gangster showdown. While all these elements can successfuly coexist in a movie, this one struggles to tie these together in a coherent fashion. The characters are one dimensional, especially Sikes who appears to be evil only for evil's sake. As a result, their relationships with each other are incredibly shallow, and severely under developed. We are meant to believe that this group of people are a family because "A family that eats together stays together." The most confounding relationship, is that of Sikes and Nancy (Sophie Simnett), as it appears out of nowhere, and becomes a driving force in the movie. This highlights a major problem within this film, it's inability to think more than two steps ahead. Every new idea introduced, starts to play out shortly after its introduction.

Michael Caine, who is no stranger to Dickens adaptions (The Muppets Christmas Carol) mostly phones it in as Fagin. He hits rock bottom in this film while disguised as a pornstachioed Russian. Headey works hard as Sikes to make a character with no real motivation work to no avail. It can't be easy when the screenwriters have created a character who consistently acts against her own interest. Law struggles as Twist to make something of the stilted dialogue and thread bare story line. Dodge (Rita Ora), and Brownlow (Noel Clarke) end up being the most entertaining to watch, in part because they aren't given much to do, and so have less dialogue to suffer through. This script is sluggish and tiresome, with poor attempts at levity and comedy. The only comedic elements in this film are the disguises used during the heist sequences. And someone needs to free the hair and makeup department from the shackles of banged wigs.

Twist is a bag of loose, mismatched threads begging to be called a sweater. It is laughable as an adaptation of Oliver Twist. As an art heist film, it is sluggish, clumsy, and falls far below the standard of the genre. Overall, it is disjointed, uninspired, and ultimately disposable.