Zoë Kravitz’s directorial debut, Blink Twice, is a slick and visually captivating thriller that aims high and lands… well, somewhere in the vicinity of its target. It's a film that stands confidently in the crowded "eat the rich" genre, but while it has moments of brilliance, it occasionally trips over its own ambition. The film sits too long in the hot tub and loses some of its momentum as a result.
At the center of the film is Frida (Naomi Ackie), a cater-waiter who, along with her friend Jess (Alia Shawkat), gets whisked away to a private island by tech billionaire Slater King (Channing Tatum). What starts as a luxurious escape slowly morphs into a nightmare, with the eerie sense that something sinister is lurking just beneath the surface. We know something is up and yet the film takes its time to start to reveal what is off about Slater King.
Kravitz, clearly influenced by Jordan Peele’s Get Out, offers a visually stunning world drenched in primary colors. King’s mansion is a blood-red fortress surrounded by fountains that seem to bleed, while blinding blues and vivid yellows add a surreal touch to the island's unsettling beauty. The attention to detail is impressive—everything from the exaggerated sound design to the flowing white dresses the women wear adds to the film's dreamlike, yet nightmarish quality. The film also features a killer soundtrack that adds to the overall style.
However, Blink Twice doesn't quite hit the same nerve that Get Out did. While Peele’s film balanced horror and humor with razor-sharp social commentary, Kravitz’s attempt leans heavily on style, sometimes at the expense of substance. The film is visually arresting, but its narrative feels overstuffed with themes and ideas that don’t always mesh seamlessly. It’s a buffet of topical issues—misogyny, trauma, memory, power dynamics, female unity—but at times, it feels like too much is on the plate, leaving the viewer with a sense of narrative indigestion.
Naomi Ackie’s portrayal of Frida is a standout. She brings depth to a character who could easily have been one-note, navigating the transition from starstruck to suspicious with a natural grace. Frida is not just a passive victim; she’s a woman trying to reclaim control in a world that continually tries to strip it away from her. Ackie’s performance is a perfect foil to Channing Tatum’s Slater King, who, behind his affable charm, hides a disquieting menace. Tatum, often cast as the good guy, taps into an eeriness here that we haven’t seen before, making his character’s descent into villainy all the more compelling.
The film’s feminist undertones are clear and, for the most part, well-executed. The camaraderie between the female characters is one of the film's most refreshing elements. It avoids the usual pitfalls of pitting women against each other, instead showing a solidarity that feels authentic, not forced. Yet, as the plot unfolds, the focus seems to drift more toward King and his backstory, leaving Frida's character somewhat underdeveloped in the latter half.
The third act, where the film should be tightening its grip on the audience, starts to unravel. Kravitz and co-writer E.T. Feigenbaum seem to lose control of the narrative, as it spirals into a series of twists that, rather than shocking, feel a bit contrived. The reveal, while horrifying, doesn’t quite land the emotional punch it should, perhaps because the story has become too tangled in its own complexity.
There’s also a questionable portrayal of the island’s Indigenous staff, who are reduced to near-silent, mystical figures. This feels like a missed opportunity to explore deeper themes of exploitation and complicity, especially given the film's focus on power dynamics.
Blink Twice is an ambitious first feature that showcases Kravitz’s potential as a filmmaker. It's stylish, bold, and full of intriguing ideas, but it also suffers from the classic debut pitfall of trying to do too much. If Kravitz had honed in on a more streamlined narrative, the film could have been truly great.
3.5/5
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