Blink Twice
Written by Zoë Kravitz and E.T. Feigenbaum
Starring Naomi Ackie, Alia Shawkat, Channing Tatum, and Adria Arjona
Runtime 1 hour, 42 minutes
Now playing in theaters

by Megan Bailey, Staff Writer

“Blink twice if I’m in danger!” Frida (Naomi Ackie) says as she meets someone at a party. And with a helpful trigger warning about sexual violence at the start of this movie, I had some clue about what kind of danger lies ahead. But the twists and turns kept me locked in throughout Zoë Kravitz’s directorial debut.

The film opens with Frida scrolling on her phone as she finds a video of Slater King (Channing Tatum) apologizing for bad behavior. Her screen flashes by, so we don’t get a clear explanation of what kind of antics he may have gotten up to, but we can take a pretty good guess. Soon after, Frida works as a cater waiter at an event for King Tech, Slater’s tech company and she has a plan to change into fancy gowns and sneak in as attendees with her roommate and coworker, Jess (Alia Shawkat), in order to get closer to King. Frida and Slater hit it off and before leaving, he invites them both to his private island.

When they arrive, everyone in attendance, including Sarah (Adria Arjona), Cody (Simon Rex), and Tom (Haley Joel Osment), give up their phones. In each of the women’s rooms matching white bikinis and dresses are laid out for them, and their great time on the island begins. Slowly but surely, things become more sinister. With constant champagne in hand and plenty of drugs to go around, it takes Frida and Jess a while to feel the bad vibes, but once they do, the movie grabs you by the arm and pulls you through several twists and turns to an incredibly powerful end.

Ackie’s performance as Frida really shines. Her character goes through the wringer in this film, and Frida’s terror is palpable as the story unfolds. Kravitz’s frequent use of close-ups draws the viewer in to feel exactly how Frida and other characters feel. At first, there’s joy, then some underlying tension, and finally, we fall into full-on fear with her. The close-ups also come in handy toward the end of the film. Channing Tatum’s expression change when the facade drops is genuinely scary, especially after we’ve only seen him pretty lighthearted otherwise.

While “Pussy Island,” the original title of this film, would have given the audience a very specific idea of what happens in this film, I think the set up of Blink Twice is a different perspective on the same scenario. There’s a horror in Blink Twice that “Pussy Island” doesn’t quite convey, at least to the unsuspecting.

The film takes on a lot of ideas: cancel culture and the performative apologies from “problematic” figures, men’s role in the subjugation of women, female rage, and so on. It’s not exactly subtle, but the film delivers on exploring all of those ideas. Kravitz posits exactly how to bring down the shitty system we currently live in (which I’ll refrain from saying too much about to avoid spoiling anything).

The sound design of this film is noticeably strong. The sound of flies and various jungle sounds accompany most of the scenes outside. Camera flashes happen often throughout the film, and the sound is jarring when it comes out of nowhere. Likewise, most of the music is diegetic, playing in the world of the film and goes away when the characters turn it off or exit a vehicle.

This film doesn’t come to a neat and tidy conclusion. However, I think Kravitz and Feigenbaum made a bold choice with the ending and the flick sticks the landing. We see just enough to put together the pieces, leaving viewers with a lot to chew on as they head out of the theater. I want to know exactly how these characters came to this ending, but that doesn’t mean anything’s wrong with the film for not showing it to me. It’s a gutsy move, and I applaud it.

I have a feeling this film will get dinged for serving style over substance, but there’s a lot of substance here to get into. It’s plenty stylish, but I’m already interested in seeing it again to pick up on the dynamic between characters that isn’t quite clear in the first go-round. Similarly, I’ve already seen posts about the film’s trigger warning, and frankly, I think it’s boring to still complain about trigger warnings in 2024. If you don’t need them, that’s great, but there’s no reason to begrudge them the way a lot of people do. With how explicit this film is, I applaud Kravitz for including it in the film itself and Amazon MGM Studios for posting the trigger warning online so audiences know what they’re getting into.