Zoë Kravitz’s directorial debut is an impressively realised psychological thriller with darkly comic undertones, although it doesn’t pull its punches and its subject matter makes this a tough watch in places.

Premise: Catering waitresses Frida (Naomi Ackie) and Jess (Alia Shawkat) are invited by ‘cancelled’ tech billionaire Slater King (Channing Tatum) to join him and his friends at a party on his private island. Once there, they are treated to lavish gifts and fine luxuries, but something doesn’t seem quite right...

Review:

I missed this film in the cinema, but when I caught up with it on streaming it came with a trigger warning at the start, which is only fair because while nothing in the film is too graphic (and it’s certainly not exploitative), the developments in the second half deal with some quite upsetting subject matters. The film treads a fine line between treating its subject matter with the seriousness it deserves while also being a piece of entertainment that is set in a heightened, fictionalised world – and in this respect, Zoë Kravitz (who directed and co-wrote the film) balances the tone very effectively.

Before seeing Blink Twice, I was only really familiar with Naomi Ackie from her appearance in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, where she didn’t really have the material to make much of an impression. In this film, however, she’s a revelation as Frida, a waitress stuck in a dead-end job, and Naomi Ackie carries the audience with her through all of the emotional twists and turns, and marks herself out as someone I’ll definitely be on the lookout for in the future.

“…Channing Tatum is fantastic in this film…”

Playing Frida’s best friend Jess is Alia Shawkat, who is someone who’s impressed me in a number of great supporting roles already. She’s joined here by Adria Arjona as the de facto leader of the group of women that Slater King (Channing Tatum) has invited to party with him and his friends (which include Christian Slater and Haley Joel Osment) on his private island, and Adria Arjona continues her run of memorable performances (I loved her in Hit Man, which came out in the same year as this film).

Channing Tatum is also fantastic in this film, ensuring that Slater King (who was ‘cancelled’ as a result of an unspecified incident involving an abuse of power) is charming enough to make you believe that people would want to be in his orbit, and that he never gives anyone sufficient cause to believe that any potential concerns are anything more than unjustified paranoia. In Channing Tatum’s hands, Slater King never feels like a direct parody of any real-life personalities, while also being worrying believable at the same time.

“…a tremendous behind-the-camera debut from Zoë Kravitz…”

It’s not a spoiler to say that something is amiss on Slater’s island (it wouldn’t be much of a thriller if there wasn’t), but when the revelations start coming out in the second half of the movie, Zoë Kravitz keeps the tone as darkly comic and elevated as the subject matter will allow, which avoids this film’s final act being quite as bleakly traumatic as the similarly themed (but arguably a little more grounded) Promising Young Woman.

In fact, this is a tremendous behind-the-camera debut from Zoë Kravitz, as not only is the script that she co-wrote full of intriguing characters and interesting developments, but her direction itself also keeps everything very visually engaging, whether it’s capturing lazy days soaking up the sun, debauched drug-fuelled parties, or flashbacks of half-remembered memories. It also appears that she may have called in a few favours from her industry friends, as not only has she assembled an impressive main cast for a first-time director, but Blink Twice also features cameos from Hollywood veterans Kyle MacLachlan and Geena Davis. In fact, Geena Davis’ cameo, along with the character played by Levon Hawke (son of Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman, and brother of Maya Hawke), both contribute in very interesting ways to the moral issues raised in the film’s final act.

“…very well-written, well-directed & well-acted…”

Overall, this film won’t be for everyone, and I would certainly caution anyone likely to find themes of sexual violence too upsetting to watch to consider carefully whether this is a film for them. But equally, this is a very well-written, well-directed and well-acted film that addresses some very serious issues that should never be ignored, and by drawing them into the light, even in a heightened and darkly comic way, it makes is slightly more difficult for similar real-life events to be swept under the carpet.