Review: Blink Twice

Image courtesy of MGM.

Zoe Kravitz's directorial debut, "Blink Twice," is a #MeToo-themed thriller that is also likely inspired by the heinous exploits of Jeffrey Epstein. The film's intentions are good and its second half, despite an ending that I don't think sticks the landing, gets better - but the picture is more of an intriguing idea than a well-executed concept.

The film opens with two young waitresses - Frida (Naomi Ackie) and Jess (Alia Shawkat) - working an event where a famed tech mogul (Channing Tatum) is speaking. We get a sense that Tatum's Slater King has seen some sort of disgrace and is in the process of trying to make amends. At the dinner, Slater is accompanied by a gaggle of tech bros (Haley Joel Osment, Christian Slater, and Simon Rex) who seemingly worship him.

It's not quite clear why Frida seems obsessed with Slater, but she manages to catch his attention and he invites her and Jess to his remote island, where he's known for having wild parties. The tech bros join him as well as several young women, most notably Sarah (Adria Arjona), a former champion of a female-led "Survivor" show.

At first, things on the island seem relaxed and enjoyable - that is, if nonstop drinking and drugs are your thing. But there's something strange afoot. The servants on the island give the visitors odd looks and one woman especially - who seems fixated on snake venom - appears to be sending signals of some sort to Frida.

The film's first half employs all types of visual tricks - jump cuts, quick flashes, editing that intentionally confuses - to give the sense of a place that's a little off kilter. It's less compelling than the film's second half, when we realize what's actually going on - which I, naturally, won't spoil - and the film becomes more of a grisly thriller.

There are some powerful moments in the picture. There are multiple scenes involving sexual assault that will be hard to stomach for most, and the film's horrific plot twist is similarly a gut punch. There are scenes of comeuppance that arrive in the second half of the film, and are much warranted, not only for the film's villainous men but also a female enabler (Geena Davis), who I'd imagine is supposed to be a stand-in for Ghislaine Maxwell.

However, the final scene in the film, which caps off the film's final 30 minutes or so of female empowerment, comes off as awkward. It doesn't particularly make sense from the standpoint of its characters' motivations or the possibility of it being feasible. 

For a first-time director, Kravitz shows some promise. "Blink Twice" tackles weighty subject matter - the power that rich white men exert over women - and it earns some points for taking it so directly and gruelingly. But it ultimately just results in genre trappings, rather than saying anything particularly memorable on the subject. This is a film that has its moments, but never reaches its full potential.