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.
Director: Zoë Kravitz
Cast: Naomi Ackie, Channing Tatum, Christian Slater, Simon Rex, Adria Arjona, Haley Joel Osment, Kyle MacLachlan, Geena Davis, Alia Shawkat
Release Date: August 23, 2024
Genre: Mystery, Thriller
Rated R for strong violent content, sexual assault, drug use and language throughout, and some sexual references.
Runtime: 1h 42m
Review:
Zoë Kravitz's directorial debut, Blink Twice, displays some talent behind the camera, especially with its devilishly well-crafted first half before stumbling into an overly didactic and predictable back half that ditches any semblance of subtly. Kravitz does strong work in those early sequences with well constructed shots and a wonderful use of sound to create a creeping sense of dread. Its visually impactful enough to leave a noticeable impression especially as events become more fractured and discombobulating. Its an impressive high wire act but once the story starts to falter the effect wears off quickly as the oh so obvious reveals come to head. There is, at least, some dark humor in the film's back half as the revelations causes logic to fly out of the window and the characters scramble for survival. Naomi Ackie is engaging enough for the majority of the film even if her character plays basic tropes we've seen multiple times before. The film would have been better served if it had spent more screen time with Ackie and Alia Shawkat's characters to give the characters more depth and their plight more impactful. Channing Tatum delivers a strong turn as the charming tech billionaire. Tatum is understated which keeps his character from falling into some of the tech bro pitfalls which makes it easy to understand why Ackie's Frida is so enraptured. Unfortunately, much like Frida, there's very little depth to him leaving him as more of a type than a fully realized character. The supporting cast is populated with familiar faces but aren't given much to work with outside of most basic stereotypes across the board. Adria Arjona injects a bit of energy in the finale which makes you wish she'd been given more prominence early on. It all makes Blink Twice feel like a missed opportunity especially on a thematic level since it could have been a more interesting and meaningful version of this story there.
C+
