I want to start this review by saying that none of the people in the title image I selected here know each other. I repeat. NONE OF THESE PEOPLE KNOW EACH OTHER. If you’ve seen this film, this detail comes towards the end of the movie. I remember seeing trailers for this when it debuted, and I was confused which means the movie will either be really good or really bad. No in between with me. In the case of “Blink Twice,” this was an excellent watch. We will talk about the ending though, and of course, I watched it with my best friends.
“Blink Twice” is the directorial debut of Zoe Kravitz who has been killing it on screen. Most of her work on screen has been dark or serious, so it doesn’t surprise me that her debut would also go in that direction.
The plot is as follows. Slater King (Channing Tatum who also produced the film) is a billionaire tech mogul who was recently in trouble for some undisclosed foul play that is never discussed. I’m assuming because the rest of the film explains what that undisclosed trouble is. Frida (Naomi Ackie who you may remember as Whitney Houston in “I Wanna Dance With Somebody”) is obsessed with this man. I do not know why. It baffled me and my best friend the entire film. Yes, Channing Tatum is a nice looking man but not enough to be plotting to get next to. That is my opinion but we’ll move on. Every year, King has a gala and Frida and her best friend, Jess, work the event as waitresses. Frida convinces Jess to put on a slinky dress she’s bought the both of them and try to get noticed by King.
Hard stop here. Who wrote this? These women have been serving all night. Frida spilled champagne on a guest while she was daydreaming about King as he was making a speech. Surely someone at the party would notice them as they parade around in these Shein dresses? Surely! Ladies and gentlemen, no one notices who these women are. Frida has an accident in the middle of the event, and by accident I mean she flat out falls in front of everyone at the party. She also breaks the heel on her shoe. Finally, she gets to be face-to-face with her man, and he’s so enamored by her that he invites her and Jess to a private island with all his friends. The aforementioned friends are in that photo I mentioned before. I should adjust my previous statement to say that the women do not know each other and the men do not know the women.
For days, these people eat, drink, do drugs, and are just merry. For days, y’all! At a certain point when you’re watching the film, you’re like, “What day is it?” Once that question is uttered, things start to change.
Here’s what bothered me, and it’s not as many things as you may think. Vic (Christian Slater) is King’s business partner. The entire time they are on this island doing drugs, drinking, eating, and being merry, he is constantly taking pictures. Sir, if you’re doing illegal things on this island, I wouldn’t be taking pictures. Furthermore, if you don’t plan to leave the island (or everyone doesn’t get to leave the island freely), then you don’t need the pictures for blackmail.
It’s not supposed to be funny, but the Spanish maid who was trying to warn Frieda (and maybe jog her memory) was not helpful only because Frida couldn’t remember and her accent was so thick you couldn’t make out what she was saying. Also, where would Frida and the girls run to? They never showed us where the plane was when they landed, so towards the end of the film when they finally tell us what’s going on, I’m like, “Now where is the getaway?”
Another thing that bothered me was the fact that King is a tech giant…and he (or someone) developed this chemical to make people forget? They way he was defending it with Frida during the last fight scene was odd to me. Why are you as a tech giant into chemistry? That’s not your brand and nothing about what we’ve learned about you would lead us to chemistry? Just saying. I allowed it but I was like how did we get here.
Tatum beautifully plays the quiet villain in this film. There’s a delicate balance when you play a man like Slater. He only got angry once (and that was weird to say the least, but I get what Kravitz was going for). Any other time we saw him, he was cool. That kind of control and power is dangerous and scary. This was the point.
I’m going to skip to the ending, and I am going to say some controversial things. At the end of the film, Frieda decides to drug King with the same chemical he used on the girls, marry him, and take over his company (with James Brown playing in the background). Now, here’s what I don’t like about this. Yes, she gets to take control of this man, his money, and his company, but there is not real consequence for him or justice for the women he took advantage of. Sure, all the men are dead, but he orchestrated the event. Making him your puppet just didn’t sit right with me, and honestly, it was a bit too perfect of an ending. I’ll use another movie ending to help make my case. People hated the ending to “Queen & Slim.” Us as the audience wanted them to get away and be happy so bad at the end of that film. Jordan Peele said the original ending to “Get Out” would have been the cops pulling up on Chris instead of his best friend, but I think he said that was a bit too real. The audience needed relief.
I say all that to say that I would have wanted this ending to go either one of two ways. One, Frida and King leave the island, his memory is in tact and he remains in control. When they come back from wherever that island is, Frida is the one who is recruiting these women, unbeknownst to her. Two, is he comes back and just continues doing the same thing but with another girl that looks similar to Frida. Honestly, it would have been cool to see Kravitz in the film. Now, you may be asking, “Well, in scenario two, what happens to Frida?” Well, I see her not wanting to say anything because of the pictures. In those pictures, it looks like she’s having a great time and they burned most of the evidence of the perfume on the island, so she’s left with scars.
Yes, I know this is not an ideal movie ending, but it’s a real ending to bring more attention to how powerful men get away with so many things for so long. I don’t know, y’all, something about her getting everything but still keeping this secret, doesn’t feel like an ending that is befitting of this movie.
Y’all tell me what you think? Did you think Kravitz nailed the execution of this movie or no?
