‘Blink Twice’ reviews: Debut director Zoe Kravitz’s thriller is ‘the work of a born filmmaker’

The new thriller “Blink Twice,” which opened in theaters on August 23, marks the directorial debut of Zoe Kravitz, who is otherwise best known for acting in projects like “Mad Max: Fury Road,” “Big Little Lies” and “The Batman.” She does have a previous writing credit, though: she scripted an episode of her short-lived Hulu series “High Fidelity” with E.T. Feigenbaum, who also serves as Kravitz’s co-writer for this film. So how did she fare in her first at-bat as a filmmaker?

“Blink Twice” has a MetaCritic score of 72 based on 27 reviews counted as of this writing. Nineteen of those reviews are classified as positive, seven are somewhat mixed and only one is outright negative. On Rotten Tomatoes, where reviews are judged simply as positive or negative, the film has a freshness rating of 78%, with 72 out of 92 reviewers giving the film a thumbs up. The RT critics consensus calls it “a bold and memorable debut that thrusts Zoe Kravitz into the turf of directors to watch.” It’s “a live wire of a film.”

It stars Naomi Ackie as a cocktail waitress invited on a getaway to the private island of a tech billionaire (Channing Tatum) where strange things start to happen. Leila Latif (Total Film) gives the film a perfect five-star rating, saying that Kravitz “takes a thrilling leap from acting to directing … dauntlessly taking on gender, class, and racial dynamics that are cruel and widespread.” Kate Erbland (IndieWire) calls Ackie “exceptional” and adds that “you won’t want to miss a single frame of [the film].” Mae Abdulbaki (Screen Rant) praises Kravitz for her “sharp and clear creative vision” and Kathryn J. Schubert for her “fantastic” editing. And Owen Gleiberman (Variety) thinks this directorial debut is “the work of a born filmmaker.”

Benjamin Lee (The Guardian) thinks “Blink Twice” is kind of unwieldy, though: “It’s a film about excess that suffers from it too, a case of too much leaving us with too little.” Nicholas Barber (BBC) calls it a “promising debut film,” but it’s too “reminiscent of several films from the past couple of years,” like “Glass Onion,” “Triangle of Sadness” and “The Menu,” giving the film “the faintly stale whiff of a project that is past its sell-by date.” And Clarisse Loughrey (Independent UK) appreciates that Kravitz has “reworked” her directorial influences “into something she can call her own,” but the script “leaves a lot untouched” and “struggles when it chases a satisfying story over more inconvenient truths.” So while the film isn’t unanimously loved, Kravitz clearly has as bright a future behind the camera as she does in front of it.