‘Blink Twice’ Is the New ‘Get Out,’ Geared Towards Women

Blink Twice is the kind of movie you want to rewatch the moment it’s over. Not because it’s perfect. Rather, because it’s so densely packed — with symbolism, with striking tableaus, with messages — you want to make sure you didn’t miss anything. Truth is, there’s so much going on here, you probably did.

Blink Twice begins with Frida (Naomi Ackie) and Jess (Alia Shawkat) sneaking into an important gala being held by controversial tech billionaire Slater King (Channing Tatum). Frida is harboring a crush on Slater after meeting him while waiting tables at the gala the previous year. Slater, it quickly becomes clear, seems to be interested in Frida. (Blink Twice benefits from the fact that Ackie and Tatum absolutely crackle together in these early scenes.)

After a night spent hanging with Slater’s entourage, Slater invites Frida and Jess to join a group escapade to Slater’s private island. The two, eager for an adventure, immediately take him up on the offer. They land the following morning at his beautiful resort/home, where all guests are provided with matching clothes and toiletries, and asked to surrender their phones.

For days on end, an endless supply of champagne flows, many drugs are imbibed, ample pool time is enjoyed and lavish meals are served every night. Something, however, is clearly amiss on the island. The staff are strangely mute, except for one exceptionally creepy woman who is tasked with killing a specific breed of snake on the island. “Red robin,” she spits at Frida every time they cross paths. “Red robin!” It’s a warning of some kind, of course — one that immediately brings to mind the pained expressions of the house staff in Get Out.

That’s not the only way in which Blink Twice resembles Get Out. This, too, is a thriller concerned with mind control, hierarchical power and being trapped by other people’s manipulations and machinations. Whereas the villains of Get Out target their victims’ race, in Blink Twice the target is gender. Despite ample buildup, when the truth of what happens nightly on the island is finally revealed, it is genuinely shocking. It also comes with a few visuals that — word of warning — will probably haunt female viewers for days.

Blink Twice marks Zoë Kravitz’s directorial debut, and if the masterful and striking scene-building here is anything to go by, she has a solid future behind the camera. Blink Twice is also blessed with an exceptional cast whose group chemistry is believable to the point of immersive. A surprising standout is Adria Arjona, who puts in a star-making turn as Sarah, a reality TV star whose island awakening feels viscerally real and propels the latter half of the movie. Christian Slater and Haley Joel Osment, playing pals of tech billionaire Slater, excellently portray slightly dorky men at different stages of mid-life crises. As for Tatum, he’s never been better.

If there are criticisms to be made of Blink Twice, it’s that the movie packs too much into its run time. The attempts at comic relief often fall flat, and while the ending of the movie is satisfying as it’s unfurling, even a modicum of closer examination reveals some significant plot holes. That said, Blink Twice has salient points to make about trauma, patriarchy, capitalism and female solidarity. It may be a little busy, but viewers are at zero risk of boredom.

‘Blink Twice’ is released nationwide on Aug. 23, 2024.