Some movies you can figure out in a matter of seconds. A quick glance at the poster, premise, and cast will sometimes tell you everything you need to know. Blink Twice is a sleek-looking thriller about a young girl who ends up on an island partying with a wealthy tech mogul. As you can already guess, things will go from bad to worse from there on out. As straightforward, simple, and predictable as they come this is one of those mildly entertaining movies still worth watching. It’s not going to amaze you and it’s not going to disappoint you. To quote comrade Anatoly Dyatlov: “3.6 – not great, not terrible.”
The pacing is rather slow compensated by the debauchery, exotic setting, and hints that there be something more to this story. I mean, clearly, there is, it’s not like they’re going to be doing drugs and partying throughout the whole movie. This part of the movie feels too repetitive and tiresome. And this is coming from someone who was smoking blunts like that stoner chick. I think that they were going for that Get Out vibe. And that’s a pretty hard vibe to nail. Especially when you’re trying to explore so many modern societal issues with just one movie. One movie that’s also supposed to be “cool”, dazzling, and intriguing.
All of this cancels out the deeper psychological analysis of the story and the characters. Only during the end credits did I realize that this was Zoë Kravitz’s directorial debut. Her boyfriend Channing Tatum plays the lead role while opposite him we have the relatively unknown Naomi Ackie. Although she did play The Voice in Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody back in 2022. I also loved the supporting cast featuring a lot of great actors. I’m talking about Christian Slater, Haley Joel Osment, Kyle MacLachlan, and Geena Davis. Of course, since I have had a huge crush on Adria Arjona ever since I saw her in The Belko Experiment, I also must mention her.
However, I want to talk about something else. I never was a big fan of Channing Tatum. I thought he was an okay actor and I did like him in 22 Jump Street. However, he was the perfect choice for this role. He has a certain emptiness behind his eyes and you really can’t tell what’s going on in that pretty head of his. In that sense, he reminds me a bit of Tom Cruise. In a strange twist, he and Zoe split up right after completing this movie. Then again, they were together for just three years, so I guess there’s nothing strange about it. It’s not like she saw a different side of him during filming or something.
Moving on, Blink Twice is clearly inspired by the infamous Jeffrey Epstein Island. A bunch of rich fucks doing drugs and Satan knows what in the middle of nowhere is a staple of “high society”. You would think the contentiousness and huge popularity of this topic would translate into a lot of movies but you would be wrong. There are, however, a lot of good documentaries and YouTube clips about it, so do check them out if you’re interested. To get back to the whole “party island” thing, a name just popped up in my head. And that name is Carlos Lehder. Carlos was a drug smuggler working for the Medellin cartel run by Pablo Escobar.
Back in 1978, he bought an island in the Bahamas, Norman’s Cay, and used it to smuggle drugs into the United States. Since the island was full of drugs, alcohol, and gangsters it was also a “party island”. And you can see parts of this in one of my favorite television shows, Narcos. Finally, if you’re looking for something with the same vibe I would recommend What You Wish For starring Nick Stahl.
Director: Zoë Kravitz
Writers: Zoë Kravitz, E.T. Feigenbaum
Cast: Naomi Ackie, Channing Tatum, Alia Shawkat, Christian Slater, Adria Arjona, Haley Joel Osment
Fun Facts: The white snakes you see in the movie Blink Twice are albino pythons. They don’t have any poison but instead strangle their pray with powerful muscles.
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IMDb Link: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14858658/
