BLINK TWICE Review: An Okay First Try For A Freshman

Introduction

Zoe Kravitz makes her directing debut with Blink Twice. You know who Zoe Kravitz is, right? She played that one girl in the Divergent series. And that other girl in Mad Max: Fury Road. And that one mutant girl in X-Men: First Class. And Catwoman. No, the other Catwoman. No, no, no – the most recent Catwoman. So, of course, it makes total sense to market Blink Twice as Kravitz’s directing debut to stir up interest in the film. She was that one girl in that HBO show. No, the other show. No, no, no – the one with Nicole Kidman and Reese Witherspoon.

Even if you do know who Zoe Kravitz is, you definitely weren’t wondering when she was going to start directing movies. In fact, I’m not sure anybody besides Kravitz was wondering. According to her bio, she attended just one year of college before pursuing a full-time acting career and her filmography includes exactly zero career credits outside of acting. Did I mention she is also one of two credited writers on Blink Twice, as well as a producer?

Synopsis

You can tell Kravitz has seen movies like The Menu, Get Out, and Knives Out. Blink Twice is another psychological horror thriller that desperately wants to be those other movies. The film features Frida (Naomi Ackie) and Jess (Alia Shawkat), two friends invited to billionaire Slater King’s (Channing Tatum) private island to join King and some other people King has invited. Once on the island, the ladies are given lavish rooms, various outfits, and perfume. All of the guests, and Slater, spend their days lounging by the pool enjoying cocktails, and their nights indulging in lavish dinners, alcohol, and hallucinogenic drugs.

It’s everything Frida dreamed life with Slater was like. But we know something is wrong because creepy music plays every now and then and leather-skinned domestic workers keep killing snakes. Because Slater’s sister/assistant Stacy (Geena Davis) collects all of their cell phones upon arrival. And because Slater’s friends are played by Simon Rex, Christian Slater, and Haley Joel Osment. Any one of those three dudes is creepy on their own, but all three together *Shudder* The only thing that could make that group creepier is if Kyle MacLachlan showed up. And guess who shows up?

Discussion

Details like these are the ‘tells’ that Kravitz is very much a novice at everything in the non-acting department of filmmaking. Other details give it away as well. Far too many close-ups – and too many that linger – that don’t add meaning to the scene. Pacing that drags on for more than an hour, then sprints to the finish line. Too much focus on the style of the movie rather than the substance. That goes for the writing as well.

Like the movies that I mentioned earlier, Kravitz (along with co-writer E. T. Feigenbaum) is going for a big reveal to simultaneously awe and frighten the audience. However, like M. Night Shyamalan’s post-Unbreakable films, they trip over themselves trying to build to the reveal before face-planting into a wall.

As I said before, we know something on the island is wrong, but only because the film goes out of its way to insert creepy music or snakes during the hour-long frivolities and frolicking of the characters that otherwise tell us nothing is amiss. The closest thing we get to drama is Frida and another guest, Sarah (Adria Arjona), kinda-sorta looking at each other sideways as they compete for Slater’s affection. But that tension never escalates or even materializes into anything noteworthy.

For that matter, we know next to nothing about Sarah (or any of the other guests). So,
when the reveal finally starts to unfold, we don’t even blink once when Sarah and Frida join forces.

Further Analysis

The biggest saving grace for Kravitz is Channing Tatum and the rest of the cast doing the best they can with such a thin screenplay. To be fair, outside of Tatum and Ackie, the rest of the cast has little to do but act high or drunk or happy for most of the film, then switch to angry or scared for the climax. And to restrict Christian Slater to nothing more than a guy snapping Polaroids throughout the film is almost criminal.

Blink Twice comes across exactly like you would expect from someone with Kravitz’s bio. There are moments of inspiration and interesting ideas, but far more moments of what you’d expect in a freshman’s Film 101 final project. You can tell Kravitz is familiar with filmmaking concepts, but still has a lot more to learn. For example, it didn’t occur to Kravitz that her original title for the film – Pussy Island – would probably be a bit tough to sell audiences on. When interviewed (by Entertainment Weekly), Kravitz seemed surprised by this, saying:

“…Interestingly enough, after researching it, women were offended by the word, and women seeing the title were saying, ‘I don’t want to see that movie’…”

Kravitz was also informed that neither the Motion Picture Association or theaters wanted to put the word pussy on posters, billboards, kiosks, and tickets. Rookie mistake.

Conclusion

In Blink Twice, Channing Tatum and Naomi Ackie manage to keep the audience engaged in what is otherwise a mediocre attempt to be like much better movies. Zoe Kravitz would benefit from watching The Menu or Get Out again, but with people who actually finished film degrees.

Rating: They won’t blink when you ask for two-thirds of your money back.

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