After working a lot of hours since the beginning of the year, things have started to slow back down at work for me. I am getting some time to go to movies and read again. I was able to go see Twisted on it’s opening weekend. The movie was entertaining, but I was disappointed by some things.

Jessica Shepard was a police officer in San Francisco. She managed to close a big case, though she put herself in danger doing it. She did get a promotion to a homicide inspector that she had been wanting. She and several of the police officers she worked with celebrated at a bar. Her former partner, Wilson, was happy for her. John Mills, the man who raised Jessica after her parent’s deaths, showed up as well. John was also a police officer. He had a high rank, and a few officers thought that the only reason Jessica got her promotion was because of her connection to John. After leaving the celebration, Jessica stopped at another bar, when she picked up a guy, went back to his place with him and had sex.

Jessica managed to make herself a few enemies in the homicide division with the way she got her promotion. Her new partner, Mike Delmarco, didn’t seem bothered by that. Jessica had to deal with a former lover, Ray Porter, defending the man she arrested. Ray seemed to be hoping to renew their relationship but Jessica wasn’t interested. She’d also been briefly involved with another police officer, Jimmy, who kept turning up. Jessica had to go to sessions with Dr. Melvin Frank, the police psychologist because of what happened when she closed the big case. Jessica started to work on her first homicide case with Mike. A man was found brutally beaten and it turned out that Jessica knew him. She had picked him up in a bar and had sex with him. Within a short time, a second man was found murdered. Jessica had a history with him as well. Many of the other homicide inspectors considered Jessica a suspect and didn’t think she should still be working on the case. More bodies turned up, and Jessica had a connection to each one. Jessica did some drinking at home and blacked out more than once. The murdered men were discovered after Jessica had blacked out. She developed doubts about her part in the murders.

CAST

Ashley Judd - Jessica Shepard
Samuel L. Jackson - John Mills
Andy Garcia - Mike Delmarco
David Strathairn - Dr. Melvin Frank
Camryn Manheim - Lisa
Mark Pellegrino - Jimmy
Richard T. Jones - Wilson Jefferson

Twisted was released to theaters on February 27, 2004. The movie was rated R and 97 minutes long. This was not a movie for young children to see.

Twisted was a thriller, but it really wasn’t that suspenseful. There were a few scenes throughout the movie that had some suspense in them, but the movie truly wasn’t that suspenseful overall. There weren’t any surprises in what happened for me. I was a little shocked by how bad the bodies of the victims looked, but I wasn’t shocked by anything that happened. Once the second victim was found, it didn’t take me long to figure out what was going on. I briefly considered one explanation, but discarded it. Then I decided on a different explanation which turned out to be the correct one. It just seemed so obvious to me what was going on and who was involved. I can’t remember the last time I figured it out that early in a movie. The movie was entertaining, but very predictable to me. The person I saw the movie with was surprised by how things turned out. During the movie, I figured out who other victims would be before they were found dead. I had seen several previews of Twisted before I saw the movie. One of the previews had a quote from some critic mentioning the surprising twist at the end. I hate when that is done. If there truly is a twist at the end, don’t blab it all over the advertising for the movie. As it was, by the time the twist showed up, I was impatient for it and not surprised at all. There was nothing surprising about how things were resolved, even when something else was tossed into the explanation. There had been enough foreshadowing earlier on for me to figure it out very early in the movie as well. I was sitting there wondering where the surprise twist was. I was entertained by the movie, but I was disappointed that it was so predictable.

There were some sexual situations and comments throughout Twisted. Jessica had a habit of going to bars, picking up men, immediately having sex with them, and then never seeing them again. It wasn’t until after the first victim was found and it was revealed that Jessica had been intimate with him that it was clear that she picked up strange men on a somewhat fairly regular basis. Jessica did share that she knew the first victim, and when more details of her relationship with the man were shared, the other homicide inspectors didn’t waste any time in making some comments about what she had done. They were judgmental of her because she had picked up a strange man and had sex with him. It seemed like the male officers wouldn’t have reacted the same way and been as judgmental if the victim had been a woman and it had been a male cop that had picked up a stranger. If a woman does something like that, she is judged more harshly than a man who does the same thing, and that happened in this movie. As the movie continued, some more about Jessica’s personal life was shared. She had one night stands with two men she worked with at times as well. There was never any mention of any long term relationship that she had with any man. It did seem like Jessica was a bit afraid of having a normal relationship. She would have sex with a guy and then that was it for the relationship. There was one sex scene between Jessica and the man she picked up, and later in the movie there was a small flashback that showed Jessica with another man. The man’s bare backside was briefly shown in the one scene. That was it for nudity. People who don’t like to see those types of scenes in movies should stay away from this movie.

There was some violence in Twisted, but it wasn’t too bad. The murders weren’t shown as they happened, but the bodies of the victims were shown after they had been found. The bodies were not in good condition and were very bloody. They weren’t pleasant to see and those scenes could be too gory for some people. There was a fight at one point when a character fought off an attacker. There was a shooting later in the movie as well. The bodies were rather gory, but the violence didn’t bother me. People could be upset by the violence in the movie.

The acting in Twisted was all right, but it wasn’t anything special. I have seen better from Ashley Judd, Samuel L. Jackson, and Andy Garcia. Ashley did ok with her role as Jessica, but she could have done better. I have seen several of her movies in the past, and I have enjoyed them. I do like her. I think the first movie I saw her in was Kiss the Girls, a much better thriller. Some scenes seemed a little forced, but that may have been because she had to say some really lousy lines. Samuel L. Jackson seemed to be over doing it with some of his lines. His part wasn’t as large, but it was important to the movie. His performance seemed more forced to me. Andy Garcia was fine, but nothing really stood out about his performance.

CHARACTERS

Jessica Shepard - She closed a big case and received a promotion to homicide inspector. She didn’t always do things by the book and she did take some chances. She was very observant and good at her job. Her first homicide case turned out to be a big one and she had a personal connection to the victims. That shook her up and she started to have doubts about herself. She was single and didn’t seem to want a long term relationship, but she did have one night stands with different men.

John Mills - He was a high-ranking police officer. John had been partners with Jessica’s father. The two men had been friends and John raised Jessica after her parents died. John was proud of Jessica, but he was also hard on her at times.

Mike Delmarco - He was Jessica’s new partner. He seemed to be interested in a more personal relationship with her. He was trying to get Jessica to trust him. He didn’t judge her for some of the things she had done. He did turn up around her at different times.

Jimmy - A cop that Jessica had a one night stand with. Jimmy was still hung up on Jessica, but she wasn’t interested in a relationship with him. Jimmy didn’t seem to want to take no for an answer.

Ray Porter - He was a lawyer that Jessica had a one night stand with. He was also interested in getting together with Jessica again.

I was disappointed with some things about Twisted, but it was an entertaining movie. Fans of Ashley Judd, Samuel L. Jackson, or Andy Garcia may enjoy the movie.

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Recommended:
Yes