Blink Twice: Did I have a good time?

“Are you having a good time?” 

That is the question that the charming yet infinitely unreadable Slader King (played by Channing Tatum) asks time and time again of Blink Twice’s protagonist, Frida (Naomi Ackie), who for most of the film simply smiles and nods in response, as she gets swept off to an island getaway with King and his friends. Though these few days of endless drinks and parties seem like a dream, some clues hint to Frida that she may be living in a nightmare, somehow hidden from her. But time and time again, Slader asks the same questions, and Frida remembers how much fun she is having. I found this recurring line both thematically clever and artistically risky. A leading man looks into the camera directly and asks if the watcher is having a good time, which is a fascinating question. As the movie is undeniably a good time, charismatic characters, snappy dialogue, and bright colors filled the screen and put me in a place of enjoyment. But much like Frida, I could feel that something was off. 

Ever since the breakout hit of Jordan Peele's Get Out in 2017, it feels like most years, we get 1 or 2 “rich people are villains” type movies. There are varying degrees of this phenomenon; there are the laid-back and funny films, like the Knives Out movies (a personal favorite), or more horror-centric ventures, such as The Menu, or gross-out dramas like Triangle of Sadness. “Blink Twice” slots itself well within the horror wing of this genre but carves its own path with a heavy side of comedy. One thing I loved about this film was the tone. From the beginning of this movie, much of it is funny and fun. I felt myself also getting swept away into the world of Slader King. It was engrossing, even if it was not perfect. But it was still quite the feat for a directorial debut from actor Zoë Kravitz, who clearly has a vision that comes through beautifully for a first movie. This is a movie that tackles some weighty subjects, so much so that my screening had a trigger warning before the movie played (something I have never seen before). So, during all of the fun parts near the beginning, I kept thinking that once the film hit the triggering plot, it would become an intense bummer. But instead, it keeps the fun. Even when Frida is faced with the horror of her situation, she and the other characters are still cracking jokes and gags throughout. I appreciate a film that can explore heavy themes with a fun tone but treat them respectfully. I think if this film does one thing well, it's finding that balance, which I found astonishing for a director's debut. 

This film is not without its faults, though. Naomi Ackie is doing her best with the lead role, but I never found myself entirely falling for her character in the way a horror film should be presenting the lead. It feels like her personality stops at being fun and crafty; other than that, I do not know a ton about her. But Ackie still is acting her heart out and makes each dangerous twist and turn hit hard, even if the script does not give her too much to work with. The side cast was pretty solid, too. The highlights are Adria Arjona playing Sarah, a survival reality TV star thrown into the middle of things as well. She understood the tone and slots in great detail. I found myself wishing for her survival quite a bit. There is also one of King's rich buddies, Tom, played by Haley Joel Osment, who is a fun surprise. He plays a rich loser quite well, and I love seeing him get work like this. But the highlight of the performances has to be the man himself, Channing Tatum, as Slader King. He weaves into both Frida's and the audience's brains. I knew in the back of my mind that he had to be bad news; that fact is even within the very beginning of the film, where we watch him giving a so-so apology about some unnamed behavior from his past. So we know he can’t be all that good, but once he meets Frida in a seemingly random encounter and he charms his way into a vacation with her, we too, sweep away those thoughts of how bad he might be. As the film develops and the truth becomes clear, I love how King is still the same character; just new sides of him are revealed. Without Tatum, I think this would not have hit as hard as it did. 

The final thing I want to speak about is the editing. I have heard in a lot of online discourse that nowadays, with everyone's attention span going down, editing and scripts have to be extremely fast. We saw this with one of the biggest films of the summer, Inside Out 2, where the film never takes a moment to breathe until the end. I felt very similar about this movie. Especially early on, it felt like no one shot lasted longer than 8 seconds. I felt like I was getting zipped from place to place with no room to breathe and really take in the cinematography. Now, is this a good or bad thing? I found it annoying during the first half of the film, and I wish it let slower moments play out. But something I loved was that once we got to the third act,  and the real horror began, and it felt like the shots got longer. It's like the quick and snappy fantasy began to fall away, and we were forced to stay with these characters in long shots where the fear was seeping in. Not to spoil anything, but the dance scene near the end was perfect in this way, and It felt like a brilliant choice.

I immensely enjoyed my time in the world of Blink Twice; its colorful island with dark horrors underneath was a great horror escape in the movie theater. But I still believe that the pacing was a little off overall. I think this movie could have been cut down by 20 minutes from the first half, and it would have hit the same. I think if this was just a bit shorter and more focused, we could be looking at a real classic. But as it stands, I had a good time. It's a Pop!