MA 15+, 102 minutes
3 Stars
Review by © Jane Freebury
A recurring question in this slick revenge flick is the apparently innocent and attentive query, ‘Are you having a good time?’ It can sound innocent enough but the more we hear it, the creepier it becomes. During the slow reveal that unmasks goings-on at an island resort, a billionaire’s playground in every sense, it begins to sound like a threat. It is de rigueur to have an amazing time with the billionaire host. Beware the hint of menace in his tone as he asks after your welfare. It strongly suggests that if you value your life, you’ll say yes.
We’ve visited this same island before in recent years. In films where it’s been a playground for the careless uber wealthy who have more assets than they know what to do with. Like the crowd who were the subject of brutal satire in movies like The Menu, Glass Onion and Triangle of Sadness. In this film from a promising young woman, first-time feature director Zoe Kravitz, they flaunt their excessive wealth, but have also devised a furtive way to use their money to satisfy some very dark urges.
An innocent question but if you value your life, you’ll say yes
As a self-made billionaire tech boss Slater King, a super-rich predatory male, Channing Tatum looks the part, a touch menacing with some facial fur. What he says goes, and his band of corrupt loyal henchmen (including characters played by Christian Slater, Haley Joel Osment, Kyle MacLachlan and Levon Hawke), are in on the action too. The fun poolside is non-stop, and the feasts and orgies bacchanalian, and then some. All of King’s team are on the make, with the exception of Geena Davis’ character, the older woman, Stacy the enabler. It would have been great to see more use made of Davis and her character.
How does a girl like Frida (English actress Naomie Ackie), an aspiring nail artist, get mixed up with a man like King? She and her room mate, friend Jess (Alia Shawkat) are waitressing during a gala event that turns out to be a King fundraiser. When they slip into slinky gear they have brought along to mix it with the guests, Frida catches the mogul’s eye. He has his sights on a good time too. In no time the two girls are aboard a flight to his private island resort where the parties will be ongoing. They will be catered for, and all their needs will be met. The only condition is that they give up their mobile phones at the outset.
Jess is the first to sense that something is wrong, and she is disappeared for her trouble. No one seems to notice that she’s gone, except Frida, and even then she can’t be quite sure.
A slick and vivid fabric of jarring, contradictory peerspectives
There are four other attractive, compliant young women who have come along for the ride including Adria Arjona’s Sarah, a spunky veteran of seasons of the Survivor TV series. Arjon, a standout in the recent Richard Linklater movie Hit Man, is a standout here too. Sarah is the one to spell out the dilemma. While she is having a great time lazing poolside, drinking champagne spiked with raspberries, feasting on tropical fare and dancing with the men, she really isn’t sure that it’s a great time at all. A woman’s intuition despite the heavy sales job all round?
It’s gaslighting and much worse, involving drugs and snake venom that wipes women’s memories of the sexual activities that they take part in. A handy tool for the perpetrators.
Lush images from award-winning cinematographer Adam Newport-Berra are skilfully woven into a vivid fabric of jarring and contradictory perspectives. It is all expertly handled by director Kravitz, the daughter of singer-songwriter Lenny. Her screenplay was a collaboration with E. T. Feigenbaum, and she is in fact Tatum’s real-life partner.
In these #MeToo times that exposed the sexual predation of the likes of Jeffrey Epstein and Harvey Weinstein, there have been some brilliant contributions to the conversation including films like Promising Young Woman and The Assistant. And there is clearly a heightened awareness of female perspectives generally.
Blink Twice is black comedy with some final lashings of horror, but it gets into difficulties near the end with declamatory scenes about forgiveness and being sorry that try to resolve some awkward narrative tensions. It’s an odd coda to what is otherwise deft and entertaining.
First published in the Canberra Times on 24 August 2024. Jane’s reviews are also published by Rotten Tomatoes