Not All Islands Are in Paradise
Reviews and Comments by Ken Burke
I invite you to join me on a regular basis to see how my responses to current cinematic offerings compare to the critical establishment, which I’ll refer to as either the CCAL (Collective Critics at Large) if they’re supportive or the OCCU (Often Cranky Critics Universe) when they go negative. However, due to COVID concerns I’m mostly addressing streaming options with limited visits to theaters, where I don’t think I’ve missed much anyway, but better options are on the horizon. (Note: Anything in bold blue below [some may look near purple] is a link to something more in the review.)
My reviews’ premise: “You can’t please everyone, so you got to please yourself.”
(from "Garden Party" by Rick Nelson and the Stone Canyon Band, 1972 album of the song’s name)
Blink Twice (Zoë Kravitz, 2024) rated R 102 min.
Here’s the trailer:
(Use the full screen button in the image’s lower right to enlarge its size;
activate the same button or use “esc” keyboard key to return to normal.)
If you can abide plot spoilers read on, but this blog’s intended for those who’ve seen the film or want to save some $ (as well as recognizing those readers like me who just aren’t that tech-savvy). To help any of you who want to learn more details yet avoid these all-important plot-reveals I’ll identify any give-away sentences/sentence-clusters with colors plus arrows:
⇒The first and last words will be noted with arrows and red.⇐ OK, now continue on if you prefer.
WHAT HAPPENS: Frida (Naomi Ackie) is struggling to get by financially as a nail artist (animal imagery her specialty) and cocktail waitress when she and her friend, Jess (Alia Shawkat), are hired to work at a swanky event hosted by billionaire Slater King (Channing Tatum) who’s recently gone public apologizing for whatever actions (he doesn’t say) he’s committed in the past, plans to spend more time on his private tropical island. After beginning their catering shifts, Frida and Jess ditch their work clothes for cocktail dresses, try to blend in with the party, but Frida trips and is attended to by Slater who also introduces her to his therapist, Rich (Kyle MacLachlan), whereupon (for some silly reason) she gives us the line that explains the title, “Blink twice if we’re in danger,” laughs. Later that night Slater invites Frida and Jess to join him and some of his friends (4 men [including Christian Slater, Haley Joel Osment], 3 women, and Slater’s sister/nervous assistant [Geena Davis]) as they ride his private jet to the island for a hedonistic getaway featuring lavish accommodations, great meals, a pool, constantly-filled champaign glasses, and trippy hallucinogens.
However, despite Slater’s seeming interest in Frida, Jess senses some memory loss, thinks there’s something quite wrong here, then she’s bitten by a unique local snake, even as Frida encounters a maid/snake killer who calls her “Red Rabbit,” convinces her to take a swig from a bottle of snake venom which causes Frida to have disturbing flashbacks. The next day Frida realizes Jess is missing, but the other women don’t even seem to know who she is. Reality-show star Sarah (Adria Arjona) begins to warm up to Frida; together they realize the exotic perfume (made from flowers grown only on this island) in their gift bags causes memory loss, then learn the snake venom reverses the process so when they drink some they become aware they’ve been brought here to be nightly raped by the men with the perfume used to wipe away awareness of the assaults. (Is this what Slater was apologizing for?) ⇒Now Frida realizes Jess was killed because her body had the snake venom so she was constantly aware of what was happening. Frida then learns she was at this island a year ago, but has no memory of it (the maid remembered her as “Red Rabbit.” due to images on her fingernails). As the other women also drink the venom they realize the awful truth, turn on the men as all except Slater, Frida, and Sarah die while the villa burns down, with Slater confused by the recent events because Frida slipped some of the perfume into his vape pipe. Later, at another big event, Slater’s disoriented (probably still getting doses of the perfume) as Frida’s now married to him, is the CEO of his tech company, and is being honored for her accomplishments.⇐
SO WHAT? From the time eons ago when stories told around the campfire about the recent hunt evolved into fully fictional narratives (although those earlier tales likely had their own share of embellishment) for literature, theatre, cinema, video, etc. there’s been the need for audiences to accept the time-honored “suspension of disbelief” for the now-told-tale to be an acceptable experience rather than a foundation for excessive complaints about unreality. Well, with Blink Twice, director and co-screenwriter (with E.T. Feigenbaum) Kravitz (she also has a small part as a stewardess) has given us plenty to suspend, which worked well enough for me but may be a bit much for some tastes, given the specific, singular attributes of the perfume and snake venom, with the end's retribution actions getting a bit gory (though these men clearly earned some just deserts).
Then there’s the possible allusion to tech billionaire Elon Musk with the Slater character, not that I’m accusing Elon of assaulting women (he just does that to U.S. government agencies with Agent Orange’s blessing), nor do I think he’s ever going to apologize for anything he does (not that Slater’s odd apology had any truth, as he‘s soon back to his despicable memory-loss playground), but given how miserable Musk has recently been to those many employees he takes issue with, along with illegally attempting to collect countless troves of private info from the Treasury Dept., it is somewhat satisfying to see a fictional counterpart of the world’s richest man get a hefty comeuppance from an innocent victim of his wrongdoings (again, though, I’m sure any seeming-reference to Musk here is pure coincidence as Kravitz began this script in 2017). In another aspect, it’s nice to see stars such as Christian Slater, Haley Joel Osment, Kyle MacLachlan, and Geena Davis spread around in these minor roles, as further additions to what’s happening with the primary actors, with most of the women previously unknown to me except for Shawkat, who I pleasantly remember as Maeby Fünke in the hilarious Fox/Netflix TV comedy series, Arrested Development. If you’d like to enhance your plot knowledge of this movie, though, turn to this site (13:47, ad interrupts at 3:50) which visualizes most everything I’ve said, although it claims to explain the ending, which it doesn’t much address after all.
BOTTOM LINE FINAL COMMENTS: Last weekend, when there were no primary Oscar contenders I haven’t seen yet now available on streaming, I explored a movie with no current awards options but still had some solid reviews, leading me to a generally-satisfying experience with Blink Twice. The CCAL added to my encouragement with their decent (yet not overwhelming) support as the Rotten Tomatoes positive reviews are 75% while the Metacritic average score is (a normally lower) 66%. It opened in domestic (U.S.-Canada) theaters on August 23, 2024, has grossed $23 million ($48 million globally), but now to see it you’ll need to turn to streaming where it’s free on both Amazon Prime Video and Fubo, a $3.99 rental on Apple TV+. I think you’d find it generally intriguing enough to watch, even with the overly-convenient plot twists (including Slater’s use of a Polaroid camera to quickly provide a visual record of everyone who’s ever been to the island, even though smart phones exist in this story so it’s more likely he’d use one of those; yet, this becomes another necessary narrative device when Frida discovers his trove of photos, verifying the true nature of what goes on during these island getaways). OK, enough from me so let’s close out with my usual review-ending device of a Musical Metaphor, this time being The Beatles’ “Baby, You’re a Rich Man” (a 1967 hit single, found on the 1967 U.S. version of the Magical Mystery Tour album) at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5m-sgtwFck which certainly relates to Slater, then comes around to Frida also: “How does it feel to be one of the beautiful people? / Now that you know who you are / What do you want to be? / And have you traveled very far? / Far as the eye can see.”
What came around for me at the conclusion of my viewing of Blink Twice, though, was more evidence that Nina and I are sharing our condo with playful spirits because as I was watching the credits the usual thing happened of that info shifting to a small, inset screen while options for other choices to see took over the main screen. As usual, I moved my cursor up to the credits to bring them back to full screen, but when I clicked on it what I got was the option to start watching the critically-praised streaming series Severance. What’s weird about that, however, is I was watching Blink Twice on the free option of Amazon Prime Video, yet now I was somehow in the Apple TV+ platform (?). Maybe I need some of that snake venom to help me understand how that happened.
SHORT TAKES
Kinda Pregnant (Tyler Spindel) rated R 100 min.
Here’s the trailer:
This will truly be the shortest SHORT TAKES review I’ve ever posted because I just watched the movie on a lark last weekend, found it to be an amusing-enough distraction from most of the horrid news of the world, but given its repudiation by the OCCU—23% RT positives, surprisingly-higher 40% MC average score—you might want to think (rather than blink) twice before watching it on Netflix (but, if you’re not a subscriber you can see what else they have in their extensive catalogue for the lowest rate of $7.99 monthly with ads, $17.99 without). The premise is a middle-aged woman’s (Amy Schumer) life is going nowhere so she starts wearing a prosthetic “baby bump,” which initially gets her supportive responses but then causes more trouble than she’d (mindlessly) imagined. There are a good many laughs, along with lots of foul language (hence the trailer halt), but the whole concept may be more offensive than intended. More info here if you'd want to see it.
On the other hand, last weekend my marvelous viewing companion of the last 38 years (married for 35 of them), my wonderful wife, Nina Kindblad, suggested we rewatch our DVD of The Master (Thomas Paul Anderson, 2012), a sorta allusion to the founding/practice of Scientology with marvelous, disturbing performances by Philip Seymour Hoffman, Joaquin Phoenix, and Amy Adams, which easily got a 4½ stars-review from me in our September 27, 2012 posting, back when this blog was quite young and I rambled on for far too long in the paragraphs without breaking them up better with more photos. The content of the review still holds up, though (at least I hope you'd agree), as does this fascinating story, so if you’re interested watch it on Peacock for free as a subscriber or invest $7.99 per month. Well worth it for this film, one of the best I’ve seen since initiating this blog.
Related Links Which You Might Find Interesting:
Options for upcoming-awards watch: (1) Anora wins the 2025 Producers Guild Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures; (2) Anora wins the Directors Guild 2025 Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Theatrical Feature Film; (3) Anora wins the 2025 Best Picture at the Critics Choice Awards (What were all these voters thinking? See our 3-stars disappointed review in our January 8, 2025 posting); (4) IMDb Staff Picks for February 2025.
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