Blink

I didn't find much "thrill" in this thriller but that doesn't mean it isn't worth watching. I loved the story about the blind woman who gets a transplant and can see for the first time since she was a little girl. I like her strong will and defiance and her ironically delicate job as a violinist. I like the way she deals with her troubled past and can just announce to strangers what has happened to her. I like her stormy relationship with a jaded bachelor cop almost past his prime. All of this was told and played brilliantly. I wish that they'd just left the thriller aspect out and concentrated on these two believable, real and interesting characters. That was the movie to make. Stowe is particularly good in these kinds of roles and I count myself as a fan after seeing this and Twelve Monkeys.

Madeline Stowe of "The Last of the Mohicans" fame stars in BLINK as a feisty musician who undergoes a new type of eye surgery to restore her vision, lost in childhood at the hands of an abusive mom. As her vision slowly returns, she runs afoul of a killer who is convinced she has gotten a good look at him, and is now after her. She tells the cops, who not surprisingly laugh at her. The irony is, she only sees the killer in a sort of surreal way, with the camera serving as Stowe's vision and showing us what amounts to little more than phantasms. She also suffers from mental time gaps with her returning vision. Stowe ends up falling for burly cop Aidan Quinn, who decides she's telling the truth and protects her. There's a nice trick at the very end involving the killer. Suspenseful and stylish for its time, with a thoughtful performance by Stowe.

There have been a load of psychological thrillers made in this decade, often heaped with sex and gratuitous violence. BLINK uses these familiar conventions, but becomes a powerhouse suspense flick with its convincing characters, ominous camera shots, and beautifully written script. Madeline Stowe stars as a blind violinist for a clubhouse band who is given her sight back with a fortunate (or unfortunate) corneal transplant. She has difficulty adjusting to the seeing world, having recurring images flashed back at her at inopportune times. Even with this handicap, she believes she has been an eyewitness to an escaping murderer, but her biggest feat is to convince the police department of her credibility. Aidan Quinn (an under-rated talent) plays the Chicago cop who believes her claim and falls in love with her in the process. What really stands in BLINK is the honesty in the leads' emotions, afraid to care again after the conventional one-night-stand. The atmosphere is most suspenseful, using Stowe's actual eyesight as a mystery in itself. Amidst all the crap that has been radiated from these types of films, BLINK delivers something credible for a change. Rating: Three stars.

A good, absorbing thriller with an unusual idea at its core, "Blink" also enjoys the benefits of good acting and direction, and some truly heartstopping scenes. What struck me also was its success in making the audience share the "Emma Brody's" confusion when faced with the the sights of the city around her for the first time in years. The very last scene is, perhaps, a bit pat, but we've had our fun by then and can indulge the filmmakers here. Recommended.

First, I have not seen the movie all the way through, but what I watched I liked. I am a bartender so I work late. I came home to find it on the television. So, I got on IMDb to find out what movie it was and low and behold, this is it. I was reading the summary and I don't know if this counts for much, but someone wrote that she was a cellist. Sadly, whomever that was needs to visit a music class because the violin is a far thing from the cello. But to continue, from what I watched, I was caught up in this movie. Someone commented that this was not a "thriller" but it definitely was for me. I am a woman and live alone with a dog and from the time she hears the noise upstairs to the next morning, when she has the flashback of the man in her apartment, well, it really scared the crap out of me. I normally don't get scared at movies but this one definitely got my heart rate up and I could hardly get to sleep. So, I will be heading to Blockbuster, when I can find someone to spend the night, to finish watching this thriller, even if it is so only to me.