
It’s difficult to talk too much about ‘Blink Twice,’ the Directing debut of Zoe Kravitz (‘The Batman’), because it would almost be revealing, yet. What has happened in this case? This has prompted the filmmakers to change course. In essence, an unpleasant billionaire (Channing Tatum) invites two women, Alia Shawkat and Naomi Ackie, on a terrifying private island vacation. The movie is indeed a first-time feature for its writer and director and certainly has more than enough here for me not to ruin the shocks in it. However, what I can state is that if you have watched a suspense movie, “Blink Twice” will not have any original single scene that will amaze you at all.
The film’s centerpiece annoyance, if there is one, will be deja vu. There is not a single story providing a new beat. Everything came to be expected and every moment where the tension would go above the normal has been experienced by yours truly. Shocking sounds, people going missing without any notice, and sinister welcoming touches are all elements that the thriller genre has leveraged long before. Their presence is not the problem. Rather, it is their affiliation tropes that fill the first two acts of the film rather than act as an increasing source of tension.
Slightly put, ‘Blink Twice’ had its fair share of sequels, the ones that come to mind are ‘Glass Onion’ and ‘Get Out’, these are the former and the latter respectively. The island setting in the first film is more along the lines of Rian Johnson’s ‘Knives Out’ sequel, but in this case, it is mostly superficial the satirical aspects of the film are rather reminiscent of Johnson’s depiction of contemporary tech billionaires. Now “Get Out”, however, appeared to be the blueprint to “Blink Twice”’s script. Some gags, the setup, and the way the movie makes fun of certain issues all seem to be from Jordan Peele’s first film. There is no issue with this per se, because ‘Blink Twice’ addresses gender and class problems in a manner in which ‘Get Out’ doesn’t. However, once I noticed this resemblance, the exciting part in a thriller movie, called suspense, was taken away from me because I was sure what sort of turns the story would take.
What kept me interested and what made the movie worth watching was the cast. Naomi Ackie, the lead actor, expresses a missing subtle sadness and warmth which later in the film develops into despair. This sharply contrasts with Channing Tatum, who plays Slater King, the tech billionaire. To him, Tatum endows the role with a cold, harsh absence of empathy even with emotion building up. This kind of emptiness works out beautifully with his character’s progression and, more importantly, provides a good part of the tension and eeriness which could have been further parroting the basic template of the script. The supporting cast is also fantastic Adria Arjona keeps on impressing after this summer’s “Hit Man”, Simon Rex, Haley Joel Osment, Kyle MacLachlan, and Christian Slater all add a layer of both weirdness and stupidity which goes very well with the satirical aims of the film.
The thriller element of the film, “Blink Twice”, was interesting to watch despite the predictability of the plot. The film dedicates itself to some social critique and some comedy, but these two aspects are not very new. I did enjoy Kravitz’s direction as the cast was impressive, and the visuals flawless, but the film failed to fully deliver what it aimed for.
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