It’s always a gamble when an actor tries their hand at filmmaking. Even if they do it right once, the next time can be a disaster. Case in point Olivia Wilde, who made 2019’s excellent breakout comedy Booksmart, but fumbled the bag with 2022’s Don’t Worry Darling, a film in which the behind the scenes drama was more exciting than the movie itself. Today’s film is Blink Twice, the directorial debut from acclaimed actress Zoe Kravitz. She also co-wrote the screenplay alongside E.T. Feigenbaum. And Blink Twice is not only one of the best debut feature films from an actor in recent memory, it’s easily one of the best surprises I’ve had all summer.

Frida (Naomi Ackie) and her roommate/best friend Jess (Alia Shawkat) are cocktail waitresses. One night, they sneak into a party as guests and meet Slater King (Channing Tatum), a playboy billionaire who recently issued a public apology for (purposely vague) ‘bad behavior’. He invites the two on his private jet to his private island. Strange things begin to happen.

The more vague I am about this, the better, because the most exciting thing about Blink Twice is the way in which this sordid tale unfolds. The film is methodically paced and is only revealing information to you little by little, until the walls come crashing down near the third act. Zoe Kravitz is displaying a somewhat remarkable understanding of suspense and the nuances of pacing. If she continues to tell the kinds of stories she wants to tell, rather than falling into the kind of Hollywood trap we lost Olivia Wilde to, we could be witnessing the beginning of a tremendously exciting filmmaker. This is inventive, bold storytelling and Kravitz shows a confident directorial hand, and I can’t wait to see what she does next.

Naomi Ackie is, of course, our audience conduit into this crazy world, and she’s great. I’ve enjoyed her ever since her breakout part on Netflix’s The End of the F—ing World, and this film is an extension of what she does so well. I also appreciate that the audience is never one step ahead of Frida, and we’re experiencing things through her perspective so effectively. Like, when she’s all wrapped up in the magic of the constant champagne and lounging by the pool, we, as viewers, are swept up in the wish fulfillment of this vacation that all millennials are desperate for. But then as she notices every red flag and the situation becomes more ominous, we are with this character every step of the way. And part of that is just good writing, but it’s also a testament to how effective Ackie’s performance is.

I’ve enjoyed witnessing Channing Tatum’s evolution as an actor. He has come a very long way from the kinds of roles that originally put him on the map, and he’s not exactly playing against type here, but the physicality so often associated with him in roles like the Magic Mike movies, is gone here. Tatum has to be charming and menacing, sometimes in the same moment, and he nails it. His performance here makes me think he should definitely consider playing more villains, or more characters with dubious qualities. It’s not always fun to play the good guy, and I hope Tatum continues to lean into that more as his career continues.

I always think when an actor dips their toe into directing, they would want to call in every favor, every big name in their contact list. And as such, we have a pretty spectacular supporting cast here. Christian Slater and Kyle MacLachlan pop up for a few scenes, Haley Joel Osment, whose career is having something of a second act as a character actor, is fun to watch here. Simon Rex and Adria Arjona are really good here as well. Levon Hawke, who I later found out is the son of Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman, makes a strong impression with not a ton of screen time. And the great Geena Davis is here, in a small but crucial role, and it’s always great to see her.

This film is paced incredibly well, and it’s always one step ahead of the viewer. It’s very hard to  predict where this is going. I kept thinking of ways this story could unravel or become undone in terms of quality, and it never went to those places. It kept going in different directions that kept me surprised and near-anxiety-attack throughout. It’s a cliche to say ‘I was on the edge of my seat’ but this film is made for that kind of reaction. 

Cinematographer Adam Newport-Berra who has mostly shot a lot of music videos, shot this, and we have a lot of gorgeous long takes that establish a lot of plot elements and character moments in an efficient, elegant way, without ever appearing too showy. And again, the fact that Kravitz is able to understand what makes all of these pieces work so well, in her first feature film, is incredibly exciting. Kathryn J. Schubert is the editor here, and it’s worth pointing her work out, because part of why this film works so well is because we never linger on anything for longer than we need to. This film is about an hour and 40 minutes long, and I felt like I was in the theater for about a half hour. That’s how engrossed I was in this story.

This is getting long, and I could gush about this movie forever, but suffice it to say Blink Twice is the best kind of late-summer surprise. It’s twisty,  it’s disturbing, it’s thrilling, it’s thematically interesting and leaves you with so much to talk about after you leave the theater. The other films where Kravitz found inspiration are clear, but it never plays like anything less than the birth of a truly exciting new filmmaker. This will play fine at home, but I would recommend seeing it in a theater, just because there is nothing I enjoy more than going to a movie theater and being totally wrapped up in the film I’m seeing. And considering we’re in late August, and the local cineplex is a dumping ground of some of the most nothing films you’ll see all year, this is a welcomed surprise.