When a movie opens with a triggering warning, it has to be good if not interesting, right? With this in mind, you have to wonder what is happening in Writer/Director Zoë Kravitz’s directorial debut feature film Blink Twice. Released August 23, 2024 by Bruce Cohen Productions, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), Redrum, and distributed by Amazon MGM Studios, Blick Twice stars a who’s who of old and up-and-coming talent.
Naomi Ackie (Star Wars: Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker 2019, Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody 2022) is Frida, who meets Channing Tatum’s (21 Jump Street 2012, Deadpool and Wolverine 2024) Billionaire Slater King at his fundraising gala. From here, he invites her to join him and his friends on a dream vacation on his private island. As strange things start to happen, Frida questions her reality. Coming along for the ride are Christian Slater (Heathers 1988, Broken Arrow 1996), Adria Arjona (Emerald City series, Morbius 2022), Kyle MacLachlan (Twin Peaks series, Showgirls 1995), Haley Joel Osment (The Sixth Sense 1999, A.I. Artificial Intelligence 2001), Geena Davis (Beetlejuice 1988, Thelma & Louise 1991), and Alia Shawkat (Arrested Development series, Green Room 2015).
Unless some key plot points were missed, it is not seen how Blink Twice scored 75% and 68% on Rotten Tomatoes with a relatively large budget. Something to think about, Zoë Kravitz started writing Blink Twice under the original working title Pussy Island in 2017. Kravitz intended to keep this title for the film, but a negative reception from the MPAA, women, and theaters led to her changing it. Kravitz could not understand the offense, because, to her, it is just a word. Pushing boundaries is admirable as an artist, but the working title and the finished product seem more for shock and awe than the abuse of power and feminism messages it tried to convey.
The everyday Joe, or Jo in this case, catching the eye of the rich socialite/ “philanthropist” to get whisked off to parts unknown to be a fish out of water plot has been used before in movies like perhaps the Fifty Shades of Gray trilogy which was still toned down from the books. Still, in that case, Dakota Johnson’s Anastasia did not know what she was getting herself into with Jamie Dorman’s Christian Grey. Both are psychological, but Blink Twice adds mystery when Frida, and eventually, Sarah work to piece together the goings-on of the island.
Are the drugs in the movie real? Yes, Desideria is a memory-erasing perfume that Slalter King gives to his guests in their eyes, hence, they blink twice, when they arrive on his island. The perfume is laced into the food, drinks, and recreational drugs on the island. Snake venom is an antidote to the memory-erasing drug, and of course, other recreational drugs that are habitually used are MDMA, shrooms, pot, and alcohol.
The cold opening of Blink Twice gives the plot away with Slater King on TV professing, “I, Slater King, would like to formally apologize for my behavior. I’ve sought therapy, and I’m gonna take a leave of absence from my company while I face these issues head-on. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” Any boob knows this’s PR damage control.
This same obviousness was seen in this year’s Trap with Josh Hartnett’s Cooper Adams. It was an hour and forty-five of watching him elude capture by idiot police and concert staff. Blink Twice is an hour forty-two of volunteered drug use with some scenes of Desideria being plied before Frida and Sarah, who started as Frida’s nemesis since she was on Survivor. This makes you think the movie’s going to be a back-biting reality show farce, realize the group’s in a bad way…only for there to be a Shyamalan-esque twist end even though there is a real psychological term for the scenario. And this is interesting…but you have to get through the whole movie to get there.
Giving credit where credit is due, Naomi Ackie’s and Channing Tatum’s, in his first bad guy turn, have very unsettling chemistry. He owns the bad guy role better, even if it was telegraphed from the start, than she owns the nice girl, who comes off a bit more opportunistic than naïve, until her friend, Alia Shawkat’s Jess disappears. It is also nice to see veterans Geena Davis, Christian Slater, Kyle MacLachlan, and Haley Joel Osment in prominent roles for the first three of the film.
This is Zoe Kravitz’s first feature film, and she wrote it with E.T. Feigenbaum in his feature writing debut. Considering this, there is a lot of room to grow, so the messages that are trying to be conveyed are not too vague or done too heavy-handed. Until then, Cryptic Rock gives Blink Twice 2 out of 5 stars.
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