Twisted movie review, Philip Kaufman, Ashley Judd, Samuel L Jackson, Andy Garcia, David Strathairn, D.W. Moffett, Mark Pellegrino, Russell Wong, Richard T. Jones, Camryn Manheim, Leland Orser. Review by Rob Blackwelder ©SPLICEDwire
Rent DVDs From NetFlix Buy movies From Amazon Buy Posters From AllPosters

SPLICEDwire content is available for print, web, radio & PDA starting at just $99/month!
JUDD'S FOURTH JUNK THRILLER
A scene from 'Twisted'
Buy movie posters at AllPosters.com
Courtesy Photo
"TWISTED"
*1/2 stars
107 minutes | Rated: R
WIDE: Friday, February 27, 2004
Directed by Philip Kaufman

Starring Ashley Judd, Samuel L. Jackson, Andy Garcia, David Strathairn, D.W. Moffett, Mark Pellegrino, Russell Wong, Richard T. Jones, Camryn Manheim, Leland Orser



This film received a Dishonorable Mention
on the Worst of 2004 list.



 FEATURE LINK
Interview with director Philip Kaufman from 2000


 COUCH CRITIQUE
   SMALL SCREEN SHRINKAGE: 20%
   WIDESCREEN: NOT NECESSARY

Like all Ashley Judd thrillers, this simple-minded junker should be a midnight movie on cable - at best.

   VIDEO RELEASE: 08.31.2004



 OTHER REVIEWS/COMING SOON
 
  • Brooding cops vs. serial killers
  • Philip Kaufman
  • Ashley Judd
  • Samuel L. Jackson
  • Andy Garcia
  • David Strathairn
  • Mark Pellegrino
  • D.W. Moffett
  • Richard T. Jones
  • Camryn Manheim


  •  LINKS for this film
    Official site
    at movies.yahoo.com
    at Rotten Tomatoes
    at Internet Movie Database
    Actress plays a cop who may be a killer in 'Twisted', but her rote victim-empowerment routine remains the same

    By Rob Blackwelder

    Ashley Judd seems to go out of her way to find hole-riddled women-in-peril B-thrillers anymore. It's as if she's doing everything in her power not to be taken seriously as an actress.

    After a moving, understated debut in 1993's "Ruby in Paradise," the actress seemed on her way toward award-worthy respect with memorable, compelling small-role performances in "Smoke," "Heat," and "A Time to Kill." Then she threw it all away to become queen of the trashy victim-empowerment genre with "Kiss the Girls," "Double Jeopardy," and "High Crimes," all of which seem promising at first but become tangled beyond salvation in their own ridiculous plot twists.

    And thus we come to the appropriately titled murder mystery "Twisted," in which the twists are not only ridiculous, but also so poorly conceived that "the real killer" might as well be walking around in blood-soaked shoes.

    Judd plays a hard-drinking, procedure-breaking San Francisco cop with some daddy issues that lead her to have sexually aggressive one-night stands with guys she picks up in bars. (Two -- count 'em! -- two clichés in one!) Freshly promoted to homicide, in her first case the victim is one of the men she slept with, and he was beaten to death with a martial arts weapon she's known to carry -- during a blackout she had after a night of boozing. Ditto two more guys who soon turn up dead with a serial killer's signature cigarette burns in the backs of their hands.

    But Detective Judd isn't pulled off the case, in part because the cops don't want to tip off any suspects to the fact that they sense a pattern (as if that wasn't the killer's intent to begin with) and in part on the orders of the police commissioner (a sleepwalking Samuel L. Jackson). He's her mentor and knows she's a good cop because he raised her after her father (and his beat partner) went on a murder-suicide spree himself in the 1970s.

    The facts of the father's case are transparently shaky, but that's the least of this movie's problems. The suspense in "Twisted" is marred by barely cursory attempts to question Judd's sanity (too much whodunit, not enough did-she-do-it) and by the telegraphed nature of other red-herring killers (a slack-jawed stalker ex-boyfriend, for example).

    The story stumbles over the loose ends of plot points (bloodstain DNA tests, a captured serial killer who messes with Judd's head like a two-bit Hannibal Lecter) that vanish when they're no longer needed. The investigation is vague, over-simplified and often imprecise (if nothing else, the DNA test should have at least revealed the sex and race of the killer). The writing is cut-rate, with most characters habitually speaking in self-satisfied smart remarks.

    And Judd gives an uneven performance in which her supposedly innate analytical instincts are never in evidence beyond token establishing scenes, and her toughness and emotional troubles seem more like costumes than character traits. In the laughably hackneyed opening scene, she overpowers a suspect holding a knife to her throat, handcuffs him, then sneers ironically and says, "Oh yeah, one more thing" before karate-kicking the guy in the face.

    Director Philip Kaufman (who must have needed a paycheck between quality projects like "Quills," "The Right Stuff" and "The Unbearable Lightness of Being") successfully exploits Judd's feminine vulnerability for all its B-movie potential and gives the unmistakable nooks and crannies of San Francisco (where he lives) a good workout -- no Canadian location-faking here.

    But beyond giving "Twisted" a passable atmosphere of imminent danger, there's just not much he can do to infuse the movie with plausibility or even patch the cracks in its rudimentary psychological facade.







    Buy from Amazon

    Rent from Netflix

    More new releases!
    or Search for
     







    SEARCH SPLICEDwire
     
    powered by FreeFind
    SPLICEDwire home
    Online Film Critics Society
    ©SPLICEDwire
    All Rights Reserved
    Return to top
    Current Reviews
    SPLICEDwire Home