Twist shouldn't be compared to Dickens' Classic

                                                               'What a fine thing capital punishment is' – Fagin

Before Rita Ora was flouting lockdown rules by having a birthday party and flying to Egypt, she was out filming Twist, with permission I assume. The modern day adaption of novel Oliver Twist overuses camera tricks and roof jumping and brings nothing of value to Dickens’ classic.

Oliver, called Twist by friends, has lived on the streets for a large part of his life. When trying to escape from his latest run in with the police, he meets fellow rascals Batesey and Dodge who invite him to join their criminal family.

The age of Twist and his newfound friends is ambiguous. They look like twenty-year-olds and behave like teenagers. Along with “The Charmer”, Red, Batesey and Dodge are the oldest children in Fagin’s family by a large margin. The younger ones don’t even make a sound. We don’t even get to see their faces, so when the movie lazily preaches on the importance of family, I couldn’t help but laugh.

The worn-out messages of family and Robin Hood style crime is enough to convince Twist to join the family and help them execute their art heist.

It’s here that Fagin’s family fail to show their criminal skills and make me wonder how exactly they have been able to evade the police for so long. The patriarch can’t even put on a convincing Russian accent or fake moustache. Only Red comes close to living up to her nickname as, The Charmer, successfully getting their mark to fall for her ploys.

Always needing to make a quick get away from their crimes, Fagin’s protegees have learnt how to get around fast, roof by roof, and they never let you forget it. Their ability to climb up walls and jump over cars lends itself effortlessly to needless camera spins and flips. These tricks were visually amazing and what attracted me to the films trailer, but they were overworked throughout the film. It became obvious scenes were written to exploit this, including a baseless fight scene that sees Twist flipping incessantly over a bar to evade punches.  

With all these in tow, it’s hard to take the film seriously. It’s harder to put it anywhere near to it’s source material, Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist as it offers no commentary on any aspect of modern British life. The pigeon-holed examples of queerness and Deliveroo are the shallow insights we get into contemporary England.

As Sky continues it’s journey in creating original content to keep up with their cheaper streaming competitors, Twist shows they still have a way to go before the success of their TV shows translates to film.