Blink Twice - 2024 film review

Blink Twice is a recent film directed and co-written by Zoe Kravitz (daughter of Lenny) and is a feminist thriller with horror elements. In some respects the storyline follows a well-worn path: two women join a group of rich strangers who invite them to party on a mysterious island paradise. So you can confidently expect Bad Things To Happen. As indeed they do. But although there's quite a lot of predictability and moralising about evil rich white men, whose horrible behaviour makes them suitable candidates for messily violent revenge, there are some interesting aspects to the film which have appealed to some, although by no means all, of the critics.

The protagonist is Frida, a nail artist and cocktail waitress, who is played by Naomi Ackie, a British actor whose compelling performance is one of the film's major strengths. She is peculiarly interested from the outset in a tech zillionaire called Slater King (Channing Tatum), who is apologising on TV for his past unacceptable behaviour. He's spent a year hiding out on his own island and says he is a changed man.

Frida and her pal Jess (Alia Shawkat) meet King at a glitzy event and don't hesitate in accepting his invitation to join him and others on the island. There are enough sinister incidents to make even the most gullible person question what is going on, but it is only when Jess goes missing that Frida really becomes concerned. But will it be too late?

The soundtrack music is eclectic and contributes effectively to the movie. I felt the writing was a bit slack in places; the film could have benefited from a bit of cutting and sharper characterisation of some of the other people on the island. There's undeniably a preachy element to this film, but despite various reservations I remained interested until the final scene - which is very neat.