Feminist horror cuts both ways.
The Hulu original “Fresh” showcased real-world gender imbalances with a slick genre twist.
“Blink Twice” hopes its cringe brand of feminism will make us forget it’s one of the year’s worst movies.
Not a chance.
First-time director Zoë Kravitz reveals a gimlet eye for grisly details but doesn’t come close to a coherent story or characters.
Frida (Naomie Ackie, “I Wanna Dance with Somebody”) and Jess (Alia Shawkat) snag a gig serving cocktails at a media titan’s gala. That’s Slater King (Channing Tatum), the handsome face of the mega-company in question. He’s on a PR tour to make amends for some unspoken “sin,” but our culture is too eager to forgive and forget.
That might be the first and last wry observation in the film.
Frida and Slater connect during the gala, and he impulsively invites her and Jess to join him at his private island.
Yeah, he’s that rich.
The women leap at the chance, and they’re bombarded with bottomless drinks, decadent meals and a heaping helping of paradise. Jess suspects all isn’t as pristine as it appears.
And, slowly, Frida suspects her friend’s instincts are spot on.
We’ll say no more … except the mystery in question is both boneheaded and kept from audiences for far too long.
Until then we vicariously live through Frida and Jess, and while that’s tantalizing at first we soon realize there’s almost nothing of caloric value here.
The key players, including Christian Slater, Haley Joel Osment, Simon Rex and Adria Arjona, go through their hedonistic paces but nothing sticks. Plot holes quickly pile up, and when Kravitz reveals her narrative cards she’s got a pair of threes, at best.
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“Blink Twice” traffics in serious horror film tropes, and the visuals are never less than enthralling. Kravitz stockpiles unsettling images atop sounds that keep us on edge.
Good.
Except there’s little follow-up.
The Frida-Slater courtship is wobbly from the start. Is he leading her on? Does she think there’s something soulful behind his well-coiffed image? Had the film developed their relationship in any meaningful way it would have made what follows register.
“Blink Twice’s” third act is a disaster, with characters running hither and yon between making stupefying speeches. The story doesn’t go fully woke, at least from a lecture point of view.
You get the message all the same. Men … bad!
There’s nothing wrong with a feminist revenge yarn — there’s a reason we’re still talking about B-movies like, “I Spit on Your Grave” decades later. “Blink Twice” lacks chills, thrills and coherency.
HiT or Miss: “Blink Twice” squanders a ripe premise for lazy, down-with-the-patriarchy shtick that wears thin in a nanosecond.
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