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BLINK TWICE

"Gory, Misguided Cautionary Tale"

Content: -4 Intentional blasphemy, evil, gross immorality, and/or worldview problems. (To be avoided)
Entertainment Quality:
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Language
Violence
Sex
Nudity

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What You Need To Know:

BLINK TWICE is the directorial debut of actress Zoë Kravitz, who played Catwoman in a couple Batman movies. The movie is a psychological thriller about a tech billionaire named Slater King. Slater invites Frida and her friend, two cocktail waitresses posing as party guests, to join him and his friends on his luxurious private island. Each night, everyone seems to be having a great time. However, Frida notices several oddities about the island and Slater. She begins to question his benevolence. Reality blurs and chaos ensues when Frida’s friend goes missing.

From an entertainment viewpoint, BLINK TWICE builds tension well. Also, Naomi Ackie’s performance as Frida is extremely well done. Sadly, that's where the movie’s redeeming qualities end. The movie paints a bloody picture while trying to act as a cautionary tale about the abuse of power. The movie avoids glorifying the sexual abuse that’s central to the movie’s plot. However, the extreme, gory violence, severe foul language, and lack of morality from every character involved throws caution to the wind. As a result of no strong moral compass, BLINK TWICE fails.

Content:

(PaPa, B, AbAbAb, LLL, VVV, SS, N, AAA, DDD, MM):

Dominant Worldview and Other Worldview Content/Elements:
Strong hedonistic pagan worldview with some light moral elements where, despite raising some positive moral themes such as the abuse of power, sexual abuse and standing up for oneself, the movie surprisingly lacks a strong, moral compass and most, if not all, of the characters show the depravity of mankind, main villain mentions in one scene that there’s a “special place in Hell” for anyone who sees someone in need and doesn’t help, but this is mockery, and Slater’s mantra throughout the film is that “there is no forgiveness, there’s just forgetting,” plus extreme implied mockery of Christianity where many characters wear a crucifix while committing sexual assault and other abuse;

Foul Language:
More than 60 “f” words (about 20 are used in one of the soundtrack songs), eight “s” words, two “b” words, and God’s name is misused 10 times including one GD profanity, two characters hold up their middle finger, and several women vomit;

Violence:
Violence and abuse are central the movie’s themes, so the movie contains lots of extreme violence such as women are drugged and sexually assaulted and made to forget it ever happened, in the most graphic sexual abuse scene, a women is gagged and bound, while no frontal nudity is shown, and the scene is brief, this is the most jarring and only explicit example of the implied sexual abuse that is happening on the island, the women fight back once they realize what their captors are doing to them, a man is stabbed repeatedly in the neck and chest, a man’s face is brutally smashed with a heavy chess board, a young man is shot in the head, a man strangles a woman by stepping on her throat, a woman stabs another woman in the chest, woman and men fight hitting each other with their fists and other objects, a man is stabbed in the hand with a corkscrew, the final minutes of the movie are full of blood and gore, a woman is bitten by a snake, and several snakes are shown being killed;

Sex:
No sex, only sexual abuse;

Nudity:
No explicit nudity, but a man and woman are fully nude but nothing explicit is shown except the male’s upper body, the women in the movie are dressed in revealing beach wear the entire movie;

Alcohol Use:
Characters are drunk and on drugs in a great deal of the movie, people drink champagne and cocktails, and it’s not until one of the woman drinks snake venom, that she sobers up;

Smoking and/or Drug Use and Abuse:
It is revealed the men are drugging the women so that they forget the previous night’s horrors by their perfume, characters smoke marijuana every day, people drip hallucinogens on their tongue and vaping other forms of drugs, plus they also consume snake venom; and,

Miscellaneous Immorality:
Deceit.

More Detail:

BLINK TWICE is actress Zoë Kravitz’s directorial debut. In this a psychological thriller, Frida is a cocktail waitress alongside her roommate and friend, Jess. Frida’s job is to stay invisible. Her manager tells her to keep smiling and not make herself seen at the night’s upcoming event.

The event is a gala for a tech billionaire named Slater King. Frida is infatuated with Slater, especially since he’s made headlines in the news for changing his ways, seeking therapy and often retiring to a private island.

During the gala, Frida and Jess come up with a plan to meet Slater. They pose as attendees to the Gala, changing out of their waitress uniforms and donning party dresses. Slater takes notice, especially when Frida runs into a waiter.

Their plan is working, and they spend the whole night with Slater and his group of friends. Frida and Slater appear to be hitting it off well. When Slater gets up to leave, he invites Jess and Frida to his private island. And of course, it’s an instant yes from Frida, who finally feels like she’s not invisible.

Slater’s island paradise is amazing, and Frida and Jess don’t mind the drug-filled, alcohol-induced vacation. Each night, they are served spectacular meals, and everyone seems to be having a great time.

However, Frida begins to notice that some things are not as they seem. At first, she’s reluctant to entertain thoughts that would ruin her vacation with Slater. However, when Jess goes missing, Frida realizes that living in paradise is not her current reality.

Reality blurs and violent chaos follows.

BLINK TWICE works hard to show the abuse of power. It does not shy away from showing the depravity of humankind, and people’s willingness to abuse and use their victims. Director Zoë Kravitz doesn’t intentionally glorify the sexual abuse on screen, but in the few scenes where what is implied turns explicit, the abuse is intense and vivid.

If kudos are going to be handed out, BLINK TWICE does build tension well. Its frenetic editing, while gimmicky at times, does a good job of emphasizing the drugged stupor in which each of the victims find themselves. To her credit, Naomi Ackie leads the cast with a great performance as Frida.

Sadly, that’s where the movie’s bright spots stop. One would think that a movie dealing with themes of abuse of power, trauma and violence would have a moral backbone. Or, at the very least, give that moral backbone to one of its characters. But it does not. Instead, viewers are met with immoral people, who abuse alcohol and drugs and/or carry out rape and gory murder. As a result, it’s difficult to find the moral of the story in BLINK TWICE.



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