BLINK TWICE (2024) - Movie Review

Director: Zoë Kravitz
Starring: Naomi Ackie, Channing Tatum, Alia Shawkat, Adria Arjona, Christian Slater, Simon Rex, Haley Joel Osment, Liz Caribel, Levon Hawke, Trew Mullen, Geena Davis, Kyle MacLachlan, Cris Costa
Genre: Thriller, Mystery
Writer: Zoë Kravitz, E.T. Feigenbaum
Runtime: 102 min
Rated: Rated R for strong violent content, sexual assault, drug use and language throughout, and some sexual references
Buy This Movie: Blu-ray (Amazon), DVD (Amazon), Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV

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Synopsis:

When tech billionaire Slater King (Channing Tatum) meets cocktail waitress Frida (Naomi Ackie) at his fundraising gala, sparks fly. He invites her to join him and his friends on a dream vacation on his private island. It's paradise. Wild nights blend into sun soaked days and everyone's having a great time. No one wants this trip to end, but as strange things start to happen, Frida begins to question her reality. There is something wrong with this place. She'll have to uncover the truth if she wants to make it out of this party alive.

Review:

The satirical psychological thriller "Blink Twice" marks the directorial debut of actress Zoe Kravitz ("The Batman", "Mad Max: Fury Road"). Naomi Ackie and Alia Shawkat star as two cocktail waitresses who find themselves whisked away to a private island by tech billionaire Slater King (Channing Tatum) and his high life friends. At first it feels like a dream come true, a paradise where the party never ends. Unfortunately, beneath the seductive fantasy lies a sinister reality.

Inspired by the #MeToo movement in Hollywood and the Harvey Weinstein scandal, the movie stems from a place of frustration and examines the balance of power between genders, with a touch of class warfare, through a genre lens. Unfortunately, the movie's uneven tone, satirical approach to sexism and abuse of power, and outbursts of brutal violence are all tossed into the equivalent of a cinematic blender, and the end result feels more like "Bodies Bodies Bodies" than "Get Out".

Kravitz at least nails the suspenseful, uneasy vibe of dark secrets lurking underneath the bright colors of the dream-like paradise island. It's all beautifully shot and efficiently put together to create a surreal and deeply unsettling atmosphere. That's where the movie excells. However, the third act is where it all implodes, sacrificing its themes for the sake of a cheap ultra violent cathartic payoff that is satisfyingly bloody, but intellectually void. To add assault to injury, the terrible final scene further undermines the movie's efforts to say something meaningful.

All in all, "Blink Twice" is a perfectly decent first-time horror effort, but its loftier ambitions don't materialize. It's got a solid cast, and Channing Tatum delivers an against type performance that proves he has more range than people give him credit for. Slater King, however, is a wasted opportunity to create a truly memorable villain, not because of Channing, but because the script fails him as a character. I'm not sure it's a movie I can recommend, but I think it's at least worth a watch to judge for yourself.

SCORE: 6.5/10