Blink Twice
Blink Twice
Starring Naomi Ackie, Channing Tatum, Alia Shawkat, Christian Slater
Directed by Zoe Kravitz
Frida (Naomi Ackie) and her best friend Jess (Alia Shawkat) work as cocktail waitresses during a party held by the powerful and attractive Slater King (Channing Tatum) who just a mea culpa for an undisclosed offense. Frida is determined to get his attention, and after face-planting due to her first time wearing high heels she gets her wish. He's so smitten by her that he invites the two women to his private island with his friends to enjoy a fun-filled week. At first everything is bliss, as Frida and Jess interact with Slater and his friends, but as the days continue on and it seems that no one knows what day it is anymore, things start becoming more sinister. Then Jess disappears, and only Frida even remembers she was there in the first place. As Frida starts uncovering the truth, she learns that she's in more danger than she ever thought.
There is some kudos deserved for Zoe Kravitz, as this is her directorial debut and she really nails the fundamentals of cinematic storytelling. The setting is exquisite, showcasing a lavish private island with a huge mansion that is dazzling to look at. The cinematography is decent as well, even if it focuses too much on the actors' faces as they fill up the screen. The story is decent enough once it gets going, but therein lies the main problem: the story is too simple while trying to be too complicated, and while it tries to offer a message of female empowerment it just comes off as pandering and generic, culminating in a confusing ending that left me with questions not from what I watched, but from what would happen if the story continued.
That story centers on Frida, played by Naomi Ackie, who is whisked away to a private island owned by the powerful Slater King (played by Channing Tatum). Any woman would probably never agree to this, but Frida is captivated by Slater's charm and popularity, so she goes with her friend Jess and meets Slater's strange friends and the dates they brought with them. For the majority of the film the group drinks, smokes, eats, parties, drinks, smokes, eats, parties, drinks, smokes, eats, parties...you get the drift. For a film that's only 102 minutes, it felt almost twice that long because it repeated itself so much I lost interest after the first couple montages. Then when Jess goes missing, the mystery amps up significantly, almost in a neck-breaking pace. I'm a fan of slow burn mysteries, but usually they sprinkle in the tension here and there before hitting us with the big event - here, it's mundane until Jess disappears, and then all of a sudden it goes crazy.
The twists in the movie are supposed to be intelligent (and, honestly, there was one that I was surprised at), but the execution is lacking in subtly. It hits you over the head like a mallet and made it seem that you're supposed to be impressed by it all, but you're just left with a sense of comfort knowing that it'll be over soon. That doesn't take away from the action, which is strong and well-done, but so much time happened to that point where it feels not just anti-climactic, but sudden and forced as well.
The performances all around the board are exceptional. Naomi Ackie can dominate the screen with her facial expressions (which is useful because Kravitz loves focusing the lens on her). Channing Tatum (who is now dating Kravitz) plays the smarmy Slater King with equal parts sleaze and confidence. Everyone else - from Alia Shawkat's comedic relief Jess to Christian Slater's forever photo taking Vic - bring their own unique charms to the story that does give you compelling characters of not totally flawed ones as well.
Proving herself to be a decent (if not overly confident) director, Zoe Kravitz's "Blink Twice" does a decent job at building suspense and tension - the only problem is that it happens within the last twenty minutes of this overly bloated film.
The Score: C+
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