“Relax – you’re on vacation!” says Geena Davis’ ditzy PA-type Stacy in Zoë Kravitz’s razor-sharp island-set thriller. But there’s not much about the Channing Tatum-led Blink Twice that is relaxing, with the film somewhere in between The Menu and 2022 Knives Out sequel, Glass Onion. It should provoke some serious social media debates in the weeks to come.
Co-written by Kravitz and E.T. Feigenbaum, this bloodcurdling battle of the sexes starts out like a wish-fulfilment fantasy as cocktail waitress Frida (Naomi Ackie) and her friend Jess (Alia Shawkat) score the opportunity of a lifetime when they run into Tatum’s tech billionaire Slater King at a fundraising event he’s hosting. Soon enough, he’s invited them both to his private island for the holiday of a lifetime, joining a whole group of hangers-on who like to eat, drink and do industrial quantities of drugs.
Among them, there is Tom (Haley Joel Osment), Lucas (Levon Hawke) and Vic (Christian Slater), who all work for King-Tech, while the female contingent includes ex-reality TV star Sarah (Adria Arjona), Camilla (Liz Caribel) and Heather (Trew Mullen), a super-stoner who spends most of the film high on her own supply. Every night, it seems, is party night – as they consume gourmet cuisine prepared by Cody (Red Rocket’s Simon Rex) and drop liquid MDMA on their tongues.
Yet there is clearly trouble in paradise – hinted at by the unnerving presence of Kyle MacLachlan’s shadowy figure on the island. Who is he? Why are there snakes everywhere? And what is it with those weird red gift bags? Kravitz, making her directorial debut, knows exactly how to drip-feed information, until it dawns on you that it’s all about to get very bad indeed.
At its heart, Blink Twice is a disturbing tale about abuse, but it’s also a film about female solidarity and holding a middle finger up to the patriarchy. “Women have been taught to compete with each other,” says Sarah, but this a film about females fighting back. With that in mind, Blink Twice gets its gore on towards the end, with everything from knives to corkscrews being utilised in insanely violent ways.
Hitting boiling point at just the right moment, it’s also sharply written, with whip-smart dialogue (“that’s going to open up beautifully” is one line that gets repeated with a superb pay-off) throughout. And as you might expect given her father Lenny’s musical acumen, Kravitz gives all the action a brilliant soundtrack with the music of James Brown and especially Chaka Khan’s ‘Ain’t Nobody’ used perfectly.
Kravitz’s real-life fiancé Tatum oozes charisma, he hasn’t been this good since wrestling drama Foxcatcher a decade ago. But just shading it is Ackie, who takes a real bite out of her role. After her Whitney Houston turn in I Wanna Dance With Somebody was somewhat overlooked, it’s heartening to see the British star in such a gutsy role that grabs you by the lapels. Relax? You won’t be able to on this vacation from hell.
Details
- Director: Zoë Kravitz
- Starring: Naomi Ackie, Channing Tatum, Alia Shawkat
- Release Date: August 23 (in cinemas)