Film Review: Blink Twice

If anything, you can’t say that Zoë Kravitz didn’t swing for the fences with her directorial debut Blink Twice, which she co-wrote with E.T. Feigenbaum. It’s a genre film, very clearly of the current post-Get Out, post-#MeToo era, and it tackles some really dark and complicated subject matter head on, while also stretching her skills in suspenseful filmmaking. It’s an intriguing setup. Frida (Naomi Ackie) is a struggling waitress who winds up getting the attention of a controversial billionaire tech mogul named Slater King (Channing Tatum). He winds up inviting her and her friend Jess (Alia Shawkat) to his private island for a retreat with his friends, but things do not appear as welcoming as it initially seems.

It’s tough to really get into the weeds of what the movie does, and the effectiveness at how it does it because much of the meat is within the revelations at play, and I would prefer not to give too much away since much of it is framed to be a surprise for the audience. But I will just say it does explore subjects like sexual assault and trauma and the way they intersect with class and celebrity in particular. The reveals that do come into play show a sinister side to the goings-on at the private island, and to the very nature of King as a person, who seems to roll away from his scandals untouched with a generic public apology before moving on.

It is an interesting choice to have Tatum play King because it is very much against type. Gone is the usual golden retriever vibe we tend to get from Tatum, and instead we have someone who we can almost immediately clock as someone sketchy, even if we’re unaware of some of the sleazier details that the film has yet to showcase. And the same goes for a lot of his friends, who are played by the likes of Christian Slater, Simon Rex, Haley Joel Osment, Kyle MacLachlan, and Levon Hawke. Jess catches onto some of the weird vibes relatively early on, though Frida feels so at ease, and is finally getting the luxury treatment she has always desired that she is willing to keep going before something weird happens, which results in her trying to ally with the other girls, played by Adria Arjona, Liz Caribel, and Trew Mullen, as well as Geena Davis, who is King’s sister.

In theory, a lot of this is totally fine and dandy, but something about it just feels a bit off. At least, in terms of how a lot of the film’s ideas are executed. The film is bold enough to bring these topics and themes to the forefront, but much of it is presented with little nuance or with the kind of broad strokes you’d see in a viral tweet. And not to get into spoilers, but the ending kind of closes off with a very “good for her” vibe that kind of implies that liberation from these patriarchal systems that exploit women can only be done through acquiring the same wealth and privilege that kept someone like King from holding any accountability, which…felt very odd. But in a way, it sort of makes sense coming from a filmmaker who was born into the world of luxury and privilege of being an offspring of a TV heartthrob and a famous musician.

It’s certainly not for a lack of trying, I do think Kravitz is capable of exploring these ideas in a more nuanced way, but something about they method to which she maneuvered through this specific narrative didn’t fully land for me. But I do think she still makes a case for being a pretty solid genre filmmaker. While her usual attitude on the red carpet and various interviews often seem super chill, her ability to capture an atmosphere of anxiety and tension is pretty strong, and she knows how to craft some pretty evocative images, as well as working with a eclectic cast. Like I mentioned before, casting Tatum against type is a pretty bold move for your debut film.

Overall, while I do have my qualms with the way Blink Twice handles some of its themes and ideas, I still came out of it appreciating the swing, respecting the attempt, and as a whole, appreciating the craftsmanship of a fairly well assembled and stylish debut. Naomi Ackie has been an actor worth keeping your eye on for a while, so I’m glad to see her as a lead – I’m just gonna pretend that Whitney Houston biopic didn’t happen, and I think she manages to anchor this incredibly well, especially given everything that her character has to go through. I just wish I found the film as thematically enriched as some of the actual filmmaking. I think Zoë Kravitz has a lot of potential, and I’m very curious to see where she goes from here.

Blink Twice is now out in theaters.

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