Review of Oliver Twist (2005) by Shawn M — 31 May 2008

I don't know which fact I find the most astonishing: that somebody thought the world needed yet another adaptation of "Oliver Twist", or that that somebody was Roman Polanski. His version is as respectful as it is respectable, but it's unlikely to captivate anyone already familiar with the story.

The digitally tweaked cinematography is not to my taste and, aside from rose-tinting Dickens' abject poverty, the harsh sunlight of the first half suggests that Polanski has been in extradition-wary exile from England so long that he's forgotten our climate! Little more than a puppet for the story's four genuinely interesting characters (Fagin, Bill Sykes, Nancy and the Artful Dodger) to toy with, Oliver is traditionally a thoroughly dull hero, though Barney Clark is especially weak in the role here; the rest of the cast are fine, if unremarkable.

If the whole barely satisfies, there are incidental pleasures for the sharp-eyed, such as Oliver's brief, upward glance at the rope from which Bill Sykes will swing as the Dodger ushers him to meet Fagin.