Blink Twice Review: An Unimpactful Directorial Debut by Zoë Kravitz!

It always seems like when we seek out paradise, it turns out to be anything but. We all plan those vacations filled with plans, reservations, and relaxation time but nothing can quite go just as we’d planned. Sometimes even the most luxurious paradise destinations can become a stressful mess. Or, it can be just as you’d imagined. That is what Frida (Naomi Ackie) and her friend Jess (Alia Shawkat) feel like when they are invited to an exclusive island owned by tech billionaire Slater King (Channing Tatum). Between the exquisite food, laid out outfits, and expensive perfume, Frida and Jess feel like they have entered a dream.

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So why do they begin to feel like their days are blending and something isn’t what it seems? Zoë Kravitz begins her directorial career with a horror/thriller intended to cut sharp and deep. However, Blink Twice, for all its intention towards revealing a key fear women deal with, sends its audience on a grueling ride with nothing new or deeper to add to the conversation it brings up.

Blink Twice appears admirable to bring up the sensitive and generational topic of sexual assault but Kravitz’s heavy handed script leaves little work for its audience from a cinematic standpoint. The script is laid out for the audience in a way that doesn’t take any creative liberties in order to get its message across.

Films get made for various reasons, some of which are filmmakers who wish to address issues through an angry lens. Not that creating a film out of anger is bad, but it seems as if the avenue Zoë Kravitz took in order to drill her point into the audience’s head left for a lackluster evolution to its story, making the second half a drag in its direction with a handful of graphic scenes that were not making its point more impactful. Blink Twice came across as a film vying to display to its audience the terror women face and how survival is a skill of utmost importance, but has little to say about its topic other than how terrible it is.

The film takes on sexual assault and repressed memories in the face of trauma. Kravitz makes script decisions to put herself in a better place to let the events play out rather than making decisions to coincide with aspects of trauma and repressed thoughts. The film adds in small details throughout that exemplify Freida’s subconscious body and mind remembering trivial details of a past that she had forgotten about.

However, when it comes to then maintaining these details of psychology throughout, she opts for a script that has her characters make decisions that contradict aspects later revealed to make the film “work.” As a result, Blink Twice taking on a dark issue to then utilize it in a way that is not consistent to represent how intuition and PTSD play a part in a woman’s life after trauma, leads the film in a direction that feels more plot directed for the film’s sake rather than to fully examine the issue at hand.

At the end of the day, it seems Blink Twice wanted to make a true impact, as a film and for Zoë Kravitz as a director. Contrary to popular opinion, no matter the subject or the emotions a film evokes, a film is worth being revisited for exceptional quality or entertainment. This is a film that is not unwatchable a second time because of its depictions of SV or trauma but because it leaves no lasting impact on the topic. Because of this, it is doomed to be an uncomfortable film not worth being revisited because of its surface level analysis and a lack of clear direction as to its point of view.

There is a questionable creative choice on Kravitz’s part where most of the film is entirely through the eyes of Freida and what she remembered and witnessed. To shoot wide shots of SV occurring between the women dismisses its original point of view “rules” and comes across unnecessary and unneeded.

A film that can not be revisited will leave no impact on the industry or the topic at hand, making Blink Twice a failure in its endeavor. The film misses its opportunity to harness any empowerment in its depiction of its characters or its conclusion. The idea of combating trauma rather than forgetting it seems to be its only measurable idea that is taken away by its lack of continuity. This one you’ll forget about in an instant.

‘Blink Twice’ Rating – 1/5

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