What a difference a month makes! Last month, “It Ends with Us” invaded theaters. It was a film focusing on domestic violence and how some men will terrorize and control the woman they “love.” It was also toothless and did little to address the horror of violent abusive men and the patriarchy that protects them.
Now we get “Blink Twice” (directed by Zoë Kravitz and written by Zoë Kravitz and E. T. Feigenbaum) and it’s the antithesis of “It Ends with Us.” Some critics refer to “Blink Twice” as a psychological thriller, but I saw it as pure horror. Like the best works of horror, it takes the ugliest aspects of the world and shoves it in our faces, forcing us to stare into the darkness. It does an especially fantastic job of shining a light on the evils of certain powerful men and the anxiety women feel (and the defenses they must maintain) when meeting men and dating them.
Parallels to Real-World Horrors
Cocktail waitress Frida (played by Naomi Ackie) is infatuated with billionaire Slater King (Channing Tatum), a tech mogul who has done some “devilish” things in the past. He has gone public worldwide with an apology and says he’s a changed man now that he’s seeing a therapist. Frida, smitten with him and his many appearances on the Internet and on television, manages to get a job (alongside her friend and fellow cocktail waitress Jess (Alia Shawkat), working King’s latest high-profile bash. King notices her at the party and seems enamored by her. He invites Frida and Jess to his legendary island. There, Frida and Jess have the time of their lives along with some of King’s other friends; but as time passes, Frida notices something’s not right about the island. There’s something malevolent about it, the workers, and possibly Slater King too.
So many things in “Blink Twice” are parallels to what we experience here in the real world. Slater King and his island immediately conjure images of Jeffrey Epstein’s island and the horrific acts committed there. King himself is a filthy rich owner of a tech company, an American version of royalty who became wealthy through the usual formula (5% by having a great idea and the other 95% through the hard, around-the-clock work of low-paid workers). The press treats Slater King gently, the terrible things he’s done in the past being referred to as “cute” or “impish,” as if he were a 6-year-old who flushed ping-pong balls down the toilet or tied a toy soldier to a puppy’s tail.
Kravitz Provides Brilliant Direction
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This mirror of our skewed world is partially what makes the film so chilling, but the bulk of the horror comes from Kravitz’s brilliant direction. The first few minutes of the film are standard movie fare, with Frida and Slater King having a “cute meet” at King’s ritzy dinner party and doing some playful flirting. For a moment, it feels like the film will veer off into “Pretty Woman” territory.
Once we get to the island though, the film hurtles forward at a breakneck pace, with Frida and Jess initially besieged in the best way possible by champagne, strawberries, fancy dinners—and, as Frida says in one scene— “those awesome 1000+ thread sheets.” But sinister things soon begin creeping in as Kravitz masterfully makes each scene shorter, at times jump-cutting forward in time to different places on the island. Mixing in some hand-held camera work also, the viewer feels as off-balance, anxious and perplexed as Frida, who starts to realize something’s very wrong with this supposed paradise.
How long has she been on the island? Why are there so many snakes here? Why is Slater’s assistant Stacy (Geena Davis), who’s supposed to be one of the best assistants in the field, suddenly so forgetful and clumsy? Where did Frida get the scar on her face, which appeared from nowhere?
A Star-studded Mix of Personalities
Slater’s rich and bizarre friends come along to the island too, including spoiled Vic (Christian Slater), chef and adrenaline junkie Cody (Simon Rex), and goofy Tom (Haley Joel Osment), who also bring their own dates with them. They include die-hard feminist Camilla (Liz Carabel), ditzy party girl Heather (Trew Mullen), and tough-as-nails (and winner of several “Survivor”-style reality shows) Sarah (Adria Arjona).
It’s a stew of great personalities, with young up-and-coming tech mogul Lucas (Levon Hawke) also staying on the island, acting as a “fifth wheel” in the proceedings. Lucas is an interesting conundrum because he’s still young enough to be optimistic and care about the world but not so caring that he’s against taking a few more bucks any way he can get it.
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Sarah is also a fascinating character who, like Frida, starts to see something very wrong with the situation they’re in. While everyone else enjoys frolicking around the pool or feasting on gourmet meals, she seems to be in constant inspection mode, always keeping a knife handy, asking questions, checking out the terrain and scrutinizing everyone.
A Film that Pulls No Punches
All of the film’s mysteries are solved at the climax, where the movie transforms into a glorious, well-earned and cathartic female power moment reminiscent of the ending of Quentin Tarantino’s “Death Proof” (where the female leads brutally take Kurt Russell’s murderous Stuntman Mike to the woodshed).
Few films do such a great job of capturing the anxiety of being a female in a patriarchal world as this film. It pulls no punches in showing how certain men, those with wealth and power and even those without, see females as just another object to own and control, and how the scales of justice always seem to tilt in their favor. Things are slowly improving as women’s voices are being heard. For now though, there’s great satisfaction in watching those justice scales get evened up a bit in Frida’s world.
“Blink Twice” is currently only showing in theaters.
