This is one of those clear cut police vs serial killer films, and it starts out pretty promising. The lead character, played by Ashly Judd, is not an all-round hero, she has her problems. And when she is linked to the murders she's supposed to be investigating, that gives the story a nice twist. There is no steady buildup off suspense, but the occasional tense moments keep you on your toes, and more importantly, obfuscate the way the story is going. This film is very successful in leaving the audience a bit paranoid half way through.
But that's where the trouble starts. To induce paranoia, a couple of characters close to Judds are clearly nominated as probable badguy by subtle (and sometimes very unsubtle) clues you get as a viewer. So now the film becomes a simple whodunit, and as any smart moviegoer will tell you, a good whodunit depends heavily on a solid plot. This is where "twisted" fails spectacularly. In an attempt to make the plot as surprising as possible, they produced something truly incomprehensible. You would expect all the clues and all the different characters behaviour and preceding actions to fit together like a jigsaw puzzle into this great big logical sequence, but your left with just a badguy who did it for reasons passing understanding.
So, this movie is not big on suspense, although it is quite skillfully used. It doesn't work as an action film or as a psychological drama. Yet somehow it's not really bad. Cinematography is very good, acting is OK, not the best dialog Iv'e ever heard, but it's not really bad either. And although it's by no means a fast paced story, there's just a lot of little distractions to keep it interesting. It won't be to everyone's taste but I still give it 6/10.
But that's where the trouble starts. To induce paranoia, a couple of characters close to Judds are clearly nominated as probable badguy by subtle (and sometimes very unsubtle) clues you get as a viewer. So now the film becomes a simple whodunit, and as any smart moviegoer will tell you, a good whodunit depends heavily on a solid plot. This is where "twisted" fails spectacularly. In an attempt to make the plot as surprising as possible, they produced something truly incomprehensible. You would expect all the clues and all the different characters behaviour and preceding actions to fit together like a jigsaw puzzle into this great big logical sequence, but your left with just a badguy who did it for reasons passing understanding.
So, this movie is not big on suspense, although it is quite skillfully used. It doesn't work as an action film or as a psychological drama. Yet somehow it's not really bad. Cinematography is very good, acting is OK, not the best dialog Iv'e ever heard, but it's not really bad either. And although it's by no means a fast paced story, there's just a lot of little distractions to keep it interesting. It won't be to everyone's taste but I still give it 6/10.