Movie Review: Blink Twice
Actress Zoë Kravitz is the latest actor to take their talents behind the camera as director with Blink Twice, an interesting and well-made movie with familiar plot beats and twists.
Roommates Frida (Naomi Acki) and Jess (Alia Shawkat) are working at a high-class dinner party thrown by Slater King (Channing Tatum). Through a chance interaction, Slater invites Frida and Jess to his new private island with a few friends. Frida and Jess take Slater up on his offer and are taken to an all-inclusive tropical paradise full of booze, drugs, food, and anything their hearts desire. But paradise quickly turns into a nightmare as people are mysteriously injured and go missing and nobody seems to know how or why.
Blink Twice is reminiscent of a lot of recent social horror films. I don’t want to name the films directly because it will give away too much information about the film and how the story plays out, but as you watch the movie, you’ll be reminded of any modern social horror films. The theme about the power of rich white men and the depths of their power, while still relevant, is also one we have seen before. Kravitz doesn’t add anything to the conversation and doesn’t show us anything that we haven’t seen or heard before, which dilutes the overall uncomfortableness of the twisted nature of the island.
Despite landing in familiar territory, Kravitz shows some skill behind the camera that has me excited about her future as a director. Visually the film is gorgeous. The colors of the lavish island light up the screen and Kravitz does an excellent job of giving us the layout of the island. We are never lost when a character ventures away from the pool or their sleeping quarters. The island is alive and Kravitz makes it its own character. She also brilliantly keeps the pace moving and the film intriguing as she slowly reveals what is actually happening on the island. Much like the characters on the island, all seems great for a large chunk of the beginning of the film, only for it to get bad real quick as soon as they realize what is happening, which makes for a gleefully bloody finale.
Kravitz assembles a talented cast, all of whom give good performances. But the success of Blink Twice lands in the performance of Tatum as Slater King. This is a performance unlike any in Tatum’s career. Known for his charming personality and good looks, Tatum weaponizes what we know and love about him as an actor to make us intrigued and attracted to Slater, only for it to turn awry. When Slater calmly reiterates to Frida that everything is fine and to not worry about anything, you believe him and any tension you feel deflates. By the end of the film, Tatum turns into a version of himself we have never seen before. Menacing, brutal, and pure evil. We’ve never seen Tatum like this before and seeing him stretch himself this way as an actor was impressive and I would like to see him do more performances like this that allow him to dive into a space he usually isn’t in. It is one of the best performances of Tatum’s career.
While not wholly original, Blink Twice is a solid directorial debut that has enough going for it for me to be intrigued by Zoë Kravitz’s career as a director. She has a great visual eye and can get good performances out of her actors, particularly from Channing Tatum in this case.
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