It’s no secret that movie trailers nowadays are prone to giving away too much of the movie* (a prime example is the remake of Speak No Evil).
Recently, I have made a personal choice to see a trailer only once or so (and very rarely do I seek out a second trailer of a film). This is one of the key reasons as to why I went into Blink Twice without knowing anything about it other than seeing the poster and possibly (I can’t remember) seeing the trailer once a few months ago.
This approach backfired on me, though not entirely in a bad way. I had heard the film dealt a lot with sexual abuse, but this was the first film I had seen in a theater in recent memory (perhaps ever) that actually starts with a written trigger warning on screen.The said trigger warning is indeed appropriate. The film starts off with Frida (Naomi Ackie) showing her obsession over billionaire Slater King (Channing Tatum). Along with her co-worker and best friend Jess (Alia Shawkat), she manages to sneak into a party where she befriends Slater, and he eventually invites them to a vacation on his private island.
Joining them are a cast of Slater King’s other guests and business partners/friends. In no particular order, these include Tom (Haley Joel Osment), Cody (Simon Rex), Camilla (Liz Caribel), Vic (Christian Slater), Sarah (Adria Arjona), Lucas (Levon Hawke, son of Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman), and Slater’s assistant Stacy (Geena Davis, someone I can’t remember the last time I saw on the big screen). As you might expect, Frida begins to suspect not all is as it seems.
The film is the first from director Zoë Kravitz (who is also currently engaged to Tatum IRL). While her skills are not entirely refined, there are a good amount of stand out shots in the film that do suggest she does have a future behind the camera, not just in front of it. My main issue with the film is the pacing, which falls on Kravitz as one of the writers (the other co-writer is E.T. Feigenbaum). We know that a terrible truth is about to unfold, but it seems to take us as the audience a long time to arrive at that destination.
Parents, the movie is about sexual abuse and BDSM. Read that last sentence again if you need to. That is not to mention the swearing and violence. So yeah, don’t bring kids.
It should go without saying that anything to do with rape is a serious issue (those jokes from Blazing Saddles have obviously not aged well). Kravitz knows this, but still is able to deliver a film with a satirical punch that ends in a way that reminded me of a film by a Peele or Tarantino (especially in his later years). Once she tightens some of the screws on the script writing (and some other minor things), she will have something going for sure.
*Note: I did double check the trailer for the movie, and, not surprisingly, he did give too much away. Come on Hollywood.
Overall:
Nothing else to say 