#review: Is Blink Twice worth the watch?

Yes, Zoë Kravitz’s directorial debut Blink Twice is in fact worth watching twice. David Ho goes into why

Blink Twice begins as a Cinderella story of sorts. Frida (Naomi Ackie) and her friend Jess (Alia Shawkat) are down on their luck cocktail waitresses. While working (and later masquerading as guests) at a gala, Frida is swept up by her Prince Charming in the form of Slater King (Channing Tatum), a disgraced billionaire tech mogul. King invites the girls to join him and his friends on a trip to his private paradise island.

The lavish holiday experience extends into a loop of fun where the days seemingly melt into one another. But when Jess goes missing and none of the other guests seem to remember nor care, Frida starts to clue in that things are not all that it seems to be…

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Spoiler alert

So it turns out that King and co have been sexually assaulting and wiping the memory of the female guests (and a male friend) using the essence of a flower native to the island in perfumes and food. But snake venom counteracts its effects, which Frida is tricked into ingesting by a maid and she starts remembering the horrors of all that has happened. It becomes a scramble for survival as Frida has to get the other women out of their drugged daze without alerting the men.

Praise needs to be given for the film’s play on tension, which left us shaking and stops the film from just falling fully into grindhouse territory like I Spit on Your Grave, much to its benefit. Do note that the sexual assault scenes are rather confronting, which is why the film now comes with a long trigger warning in the opening, compared to earlier screenings.

Kravitz uses sound and colour to great effect too, giving audiences sensory cues and contrasting visuals as the tension builds, which we feel gives it great dimension for future rewatches. The bloodbath that ensues in the final quarter is genuinely thrilling and feels like a well-earned release.

The cast turn in great performances, even if the supporting characters are rather one dimensional in the fast paced script. Tatum is fully believable in both personas, as the charming but humbled celebrity who is seemingly reformed after his public scandal and as the menacing sexual predator. Ackie’s Frida also makes for a protagonist worth rooting for and we love the unlikely friendship she forms with Sarah (Adria Arjona), a veteran on survival reality shows. It’s also great to see familiar faces like Haley Joel Osment and Geena Davis on screen again, albeit in a villainous capacity.

The ending for the film may leave some scratching their heads or unsettled. After all, what is the proper punishment we as a collective have decided is appropriate for such monsters, be it in film or real life? As Blink Twice shows, forgetting may not be the gift it appears to be.

Originally titled Pussy Island, the film took seven years to reach the silver screen. Blink Twice serves as an amalgamation of many things. It ties together power dynamics, gender politics, celebrity cancel culture, #MeToo and even Epstein Island into a truly tense and thrilling watch.

Kravitz, who co-wrote the script with E.T. Feigenbaum, noted that the project “evolved in very cool ways” especially when the #MeToo conversations unfurled. There is a sense of rage baiting with the eat-the-rich theme that we’ve seen played out in recent films like Saltburn but the suspense keeps viewers on their toes and the excellent cinematography

“The subject matter is so ancient, it’s power, the oppression of women. It’s the most basic things in the world. I’m talking about the Garden of Eden and the Serpent of Knowledge, and I’m starting way back at the very beginning, and yet it feels so current, which is really interesting,” says Kravitz. “Which is maybe why I felt like this should be written about. But when you’re writing about something that is still so alive that it keeps changing and you have to keep adapting in terms of the culture and the characters and what behavior is acceptable? What’s a red flag now? What is in the character’s consciousness in terms of, ‘Girl, don’t get on that plane with that guy. Haven’t you read the news lately?’ And so it was a cool thing to have to keep on keeping up with the times.”

Verdict: The distressing sexual violence can be hard to stomach, but Blink Twice rewards with a thrilling watch. Kravitz seals herself as a filmmaker to watch with this dark psychological thriller as a promising debut.

Photos courtesy of Amazon-MGM

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