By Jonathan Klotz
| Published
Most first-time directors don’t start out with a hit film that makes twice its budget and then becomes a streaming hit, but then again, most first-time directors aren’t Zoe Kravitz. The actress wrote and directed the thriller Blink twicewhich debuted in theaters last year and stunned audiences by transforming Channing Tatum into a villain. The hunk’s typically dim-witted personality has been replaced by his sinister turn as a tech mogul that serves no good purpose.
Billionaire private islands never end well
Blink twice focuses on Frida (played by Naomi Ackie, star of the upcoming Mickey 17), a waitress enticed to go spend a weekend on the private island of billionaire Slater King (Channing Tatum), who is, of course, incredibly handsome and charming, but there is a sleaze beneath the carefully crafted facade, unlike to no other role in Tatum. career. Slater’s friends join the couple, including Tom (Haley Joel Osment), Cody (Simon Rex), and Stan (Christian Slater), and a few other women, including Frida’s friend Jess (Alia Shawkat from Final Girls), and Sarah, a reality TV star (Good omens Adria Arjona). What begins with scenes of partying, drinking and lounging by the pool quickly takes a dark turn.
One morning, Frida realizes that Jess is gone and that no one else on the island seems to remember her presence. Although it plays with familiar horror tropes, the film’s exotic setting even lulls viewers into a state of euphoria before all hell breaks loose. Blink twice takes a while to reveal what happens to the island guests, but once it enters the third act, it heads toward the finale.
A future cult classic
During interviews, Zoe Kravitz explained that she started working on the first version of the film in 2017 and that it had been a passion of hers for years. Blink twice is his vision come to life, and while there are a few stumbles, and as far as the film goes with its plot, it always feels like it’s holding back. None of the characters ever feel fully fleshed out, and each can be summed up in a few words, but whether that’s a good or bad thing is entirely subjective and based on how you like your horror.
What Kravitz achieved is what most horror directors try to do, which is take the anxiety of their era and present it through the prism of a horror tale that transforms fear and anxiety into something tangible. Blink twice succeeds by embracing different levels of very real fears in today’s society and bending them a bit to produce a future cult classic. Today, the film, which made back double its $20 million production budget in theaters, has achieved the rare feat of getting critics and audiences to agree on Rotten Tomatoeswith 75 percent and 71 percent fees respectively.
Blink twice won’t gain fans for its originality, and it might be too entrenched in current societal trends to remain relevant, although unfortunately that will probably be the case for a very long time, but there are plenty of horror films released every year which are much worse. . Zoe Kravitz has proven that she has talent behind the camera and I hope she starts working on another film soon. As for Channing Tatumhe’s gone from being typecast to proving he can perform in a multitude of different roles, so he might surprise everyone again.
Blink twice is currently streaming on Amazon Prime.
