When tech billionaire Slater King meets cocktail waitress Frida at his fundraising gala, he invites her to join him and his friends for a dream vacation on his private island. Wild nights soon blend into sun-soaked days, but when strange things start to happen, Frida must uncover the truth if she hopes to make it out alive. I’m a sucker for mystery thrillers that take place on an island, so when I saw the trailer for Blink Twice, I immediately knew I had to see it. This is Zoë Kravitz’s directorial debut and I have to admit, for a first time director, she sure shows a lot of her ambition on display in this film, for better or worse. The movie stars Channing Tatum, Naomi Ackie, Adria Arjona, Alia Shawkat, Haley Joel Osment, Levon Hawke, Simon Rex, and Christian Slater. First off, Zoë Kravitz’s direction is fairly impressive and she does an excellent job through the camerawork to make the audience feel like something is just not right and very off kilter. The sound design is also very immersive, as I never heard the bubbles fizzing from the pouring of a bottle of champagne into a glass so vibrantly before. All of the performances are fantastic, with Naomi Ackie as the main character of Frida turning in a solid performance as the cocktail waitress now on “vacation.” Unsurprisingly enough though, the standout is of course Channing Tatum as tech billionaire Slater King, as Tatum continues to prove himself as an actor with plenty of range.
Once Slater invites Frida and her friend Jess to come out to the island after Frida has an accident on the job, the two girls hop on a plane with Slater and go to his island. No phones, no electronics, no outsiders, nothing but getting drunk, high, and eating what is most likely the most expensive food in the world. Her and her friend Jess played by Alia Shawkat go along with it at first, indulging in all the free food, liquor, and debauchery, but after one little incident takes place, it’s clear that something is seriously wrong. We have seen movies like this many times before such as Get Out, Don’t Worry Darling, and The Menu. So, from my experience with these types of films, it really all comes down to if the big third act reveal or “the point” was satisfying or worth it when I make the assessment of whether or not I liked the film overall. Sadly, in the case of Blink Twice, while I was thoroughly engaged on a curiosity level, the third act reveal did not feel all that different from twists or reveals we have seen before. In fact, I would go so far as to say that last year’s Saltburn did this type of twist, but a lot more organically.
What really bogs the film down is Kravitz‘s attempts to insert very unclear messaging, sort of along the lines of the “me too” movement. I was not able to understand if she was trying to say “women who are sexually assaulted or raped in today’s society won’t be believed or taken seriously” or if she was trying to comment on how “women shouldn’t blindly trust wealthy men and go to their private island.” I also noticed a lot of eerie similarities and parallels to the atrocities that took place on Epstein’s island, and I am not quite sure how intentional that was. The movie has some pretty dark satirical humor in it that really worked for me, and I really wish Kravitz would have embraced angle a lot more, because the tone was oftentimes inconsistent. The ending for me felt way too familiar to other films like it and ultimately made me go, “that’s it?” This is not a bad film by any means and as I stated earlier, I was fairly engaged throughout most of it, particularly the set up, but again, it’s one of those movies that if the payoff is underwhelming, it becomes difficult to give it a full recommendation. Overall, while Blink Twice is a boldly ambitious directorial debut for Zoë Kravitz with engaging performances from Naomi Ackie and Channing Tatum, the film ultimately doesn’t come together as a whole due to muddled messaging, an unclear tone, and an underwhelming third act reveal/ending.
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