“Blink Twice” Spoiler-Free Review

Blink Twice Spoiler-Free Review

When I was a kid, I was madly in love with Lisa Bonet. I didn’t know her and had never met her, but I felt like I knew her. Oh… that doesn’t sound good. Every week on Thursday night, my family and I would gather around the TV and watch The Cosby Show. I looked up to Bill Cosby. Okay… that doesn’t sound good either. Let me start over.

You had to be there, young whippersnappers. The Cosby Show in the 80s, much like Michael Jackson, MTV, and Teddy Ruxpin, was a phenomenon. Everybody I knew watched it. Everybody they knew watched it. Before the internet, it seems like things were just bigger. We had more events before the 24-hour news cycle shorted the attention spans of millions of Americans.

My favorite part of The Cosby Show was obviously Bud, Rudy Huxtable’s wise-cracking best friend who she nicknamed that (real name on the show was Kenny and real name in real life is Deon Richmond). It was a running joke throughout the series, and reminded people that Rudy was indeed in charge. The Cosby Show was full of strong women, which is ironic given the fate of the program’s titular character.

One of those strong women was Denise, Cosby and Claire’s (Phylicia Rashad) middle daughter. Denise, played by Lisa Bonet, had a bit of a rebellious streak, was independent, free-spirited, and empathetic. Not to mention, to my eight-year-old self, she was absolutely beautiful.

But Lisa Bonet was not only beautiful, she was talented. She went on to do A Different World, movies like Angel Heart, Enemy of the State, and High Fidelity among others. I went on to real-life crushes, but my first TV crush always held a special spot for some reason.

Bonet and Lenny Kravitz’s daughter is named Zoë Kravitz, and she is in one of my favorite movies of all time, Mad Max: Fury Road. If you haven’t seen it, find the largest screen and the best sound system you can and give it a watch. Zoë has been in a ton of stuff: Big Little Lies, High Fidelity the TV series, The Lego Batman Movie, Into the Spider-Verse, and the list goes on. She played Catwoman in Matt Reeve’s The Batman movie, and absolutely killed the part.

Recently she tried her hand at directing with a movie called Blink Twice. Her boyfriend, Channing Tatum, stars in the film, but it’s also a veritable who’s who of famous film stars.

Naomi Ackie, Christian Slater, Simon Rex, Adria Arjona, Kyle MacLachlan (a favorite of mine) Haley Joel Osment (from Sixth Sense fame – read more about that movie and director here), Geena Davis, and Alia Shawkat.

The movie centers around a young woman named Frida (Naomi Ackie) who is an animal-themed nail artist and cocktail waitress. She seems slightly obsessed with a tech billionaire named Slater King (Tatum) and after a chance encounter with him, he invites Frida and her friend to a private island he owns.

When they arrive with a semi-large group, they are instructed to give up their phones, change clothes, and days of care-free partying begins. But slowly, Frida begins to realize that all is not as it seems. The days begin to bleed into one another, and her memory of what happened each night before is completely gone. Her friend begins to suspect they have made a very, very bad choice.

This is a film about empathy versus authority, mental health, the huge gap between the powerful and the powerless, and also about the people that see wrong in the world and do nothing about it. Would Frida have trusted King had he just been some guy working a 9 to 5? Why do we blindly trust those in power? This film doesn’t answer those questions, but it sure gives the viewer some food for thought. It also looks at the importance of female solidarity. In a this-or-that world that seems to want to pit people against each other, it reminds us that there is always another way.

I am reminded, unfortunately, of Diddy and his “Freak Offs” that have been running rampant on my news feeds of late. Of Cosby’s own charges of spiking drinks and taking advantage of the ones who trusted him. And of course, Jeffery Epstein and his own private island. One can’t help see the connection there.

Is it a perfect movie? No, and it has some pretty gaping potholes. But to me, the storytelling overshadows them and makes for a good viewing experience. It’s actually a gripping thriller, with a strong performance by Naomi Ackie and an even stronger directorial debut by Zoë Kravitz.

I think her mom would be proud.

Rating: 4.2/5 stars

TM Rush