Twisted

Twisted

Twisted

Twisted

To hear Director Philip Kaufman tell it, "Twisted" was supposed to be the best film noire picture since the classics of the 40s. Not so. It has most of the elements of film noire..the dark lighting, the darkened streets and a murder mystery. But it doesn't quite work. Officer Jessica Shepard (Ashley Judd) is a kick ass police officer who has just been promoted to Homicide Inspector. Now it seems that the comely young officer also has a penchant for violent behavior and one night stands. Her mentor is none other than Police Commissioner John Mills (Samuel L. Jackson) who has raised her and nurtured her career following the tragic deaths of her parents some years earlier. Shepard's new partner turns out to be Mike Delmarco (Andy Garcia) whom she had unknowingly met the previous evening during a party at a bar in her honor. Suddenly, Jessica's one night lovers begin turning up dead, brutally beaten. At the same time, she has been experiencing blackouts immediately before the murders. She then begins to suspect that she may be responsible. Sounds good huh? I though so too but on watching it I guessed who the murderer was almost right away. This took away any suspense the director was trying to build by placing suspicion on other characters. We do get some nice shots of San Francisco though. The petite Ashley Judd is just not convincing as a tough love 'em and leave 'em cop. She does her best work in the psychological scenes where she comes unraveled at the thought that she may be murdering these men. Jackson does the best he can with limited material. He is off screen more than he is on. I thought that his character could have been fleshed out a little more. Garcia, playing an Italian again, does what he can with his role. TV's Camryn Manheim puts in a appearance as the forensic examiner Lisa. Not nearly as good as Director Philip Kaufman would have you believe.

29 February 2004. The premise of this movie was good, but the script and the effort put into making this movie into an A-class vehicle fell short. The mounting connections and the coincidences began to become nauseating and inevitably predictable. The actors were hampered by the script that tried too hard to educate its audience...subtlety is sometimes better. An interesting and well-paced movie, it could have been a lot better with Ashley Judd at the helm with a director that would have made the hard decisions about plot. Unfortunately, this movie is just another in a series of movies we've all seen before, that won't stand out, and will become simply a memory. Six out of Ten Stars.

The film's plot and story line was thought out just OK. My biggest problem was the casting. Ashley Judd is not at all a hard a$$! She was good in double jeopardy but this movie she was very corny. As of read in many other reviews on the movie, Samuel L Jackson pretty much played like he always plays in movies such as Pulp Fiction: a sarcastic hot tempered hard a$$! I think he fit the role pretty well but I think the role was wasted. But lately, Jackson has wasted his time in movies such as The Man and In My Country. The ending of the film was typical even though it did keep me guessing a bit. I was looking way out side the box in such ways like I did in Arlington Road. In conclusion, I would see this film but I wouldn't pay more than 8 dollars for the DVD. I give the acting a 5, directing a 6, editing a 7, plot a 6. It was a decent thriller but not over the top.

Another case of the critics being wrong (and influencing the public mind as well). Actually, I already knew that a San Francisco-set murder mystery with Ashley Judd, Samuel Jackson and Andy Garcia could never be as bad as they said...and of course it wasn't. OK, it's not the most original story ever filmed, but it is distinguished by the tense, moody edge that director Kaufman gives to it. Judd is strong and compelling - she's the one who holds the movie together; Jackson is Jackson, an enjoyable actor, a commanding presence, a treat to watch; Garcia overacts at times, but his key scene (holding a gun over a sleeping Judd) is so superbly played that it redeems any possible shortcomings of his performance. To keep it short, and use one of the critics' favorite clichés, "Twisted" kept ME at least guessing to the last frame. (***)

i saw Twisted yesterday and i thought it was going to be just another stupid generic thriller and i was proved wrong. the film has a somewhat original plot and is directed by Philip Kaufman, an accomplished director, who also directed Quills, another great film. i thought the acting in Twisted was quite good and it exceeded my expectations. Ashley Judd, who has become a somewhat veteren to this genre of movies was excellent as the alcoholic cop, Jessica Sheppard and Andy Garcia was also very good as her partner, Mike. Samuel L. Jackson, who was not in the movie very much, only towards the end, and played his role very well and gave a thrilling performance. Twisted kept me guessing until the last minute and i thought it was an awesome thriller! 10/10

"Twisted" was a good title selection for this film, due to the complicated plot line and the excellent suspense. The film also included four strong performances from Ashley Judd, Andy Garcia, Samuel L. Jackson, and David Strathairn. There was also some great location footage of San Francisco, especially the scenes around the Palace of Fine Arts. The only drawback of this film was in the characterization of the protagonist, the young homicide inspector played by Ashley Judd. Her character's personal habits, including alcoholic-level drinking throughout the film, were not likable, and it was difficult to believe that she could possibly function with any degree of competency on the job given her consumption of alcohol. In the classic film noir stories, the protagonist--invariably a beleaguered police detective or a private eye--was flawed, but never so outlandishly flawed as Ashley Judd's character in "Twisted."

Against the not super,but OK acting,I did not feel it was a bad film.Personally I think this is a good ,logical drama,far better than television-films ,and has enough deep story to keep me thinking.Specially it was a very special situation to see this film ,cause I did not rent this , had seen this film in theater,but as far as I can remember this film has a great structure.But I can not remember what was the message,and this is sad.This is enough reason to see again on television.So I just wanted to say,there are films with something interesting,but you have to wait,some days ,or weeks to understand what the writer ,or director wanted to say.