ON OUR RECENT VACATION, WE HAD several casual encounters with one particular couple, a man and woman. The first time we met them was in the ship’s main dining room; they were seated next to us. The man looked older than the woman but if I had to guess, I would say she was in her 50’s and he was in his late 60’s or early 70’s. While looking at their menus, she saw my entrée and asked how I liked it. It was an item on the daily special menu, and it was quite good. Expressing this to her, she turned to the man and asked him what he thought about it. He agreed with her but said he wanted to see what else was being offered for dinner. Having the opportunity to look at them directly, I believed they were not married because neither was wearing a wedding ring. The woman’s clothes, in my opinion, were tight on her; I did not know if it was intentional or not. Her blouse, which was cut low to expose and amplify her ample chest also revealed a couple of rolls from her stomach. I am not judging by any means, just describing what I saw. She wore a flashy necklace and a few sparkling bracelets and rings on her hands. I noticed her hair was dyed blonde because of the beginning of darker roots emerging from her scalp. The four of us had a further short verbal exchange before they went back to studying their menus.      WHEN THE WAITER CAME TO THEIR table, I could not help but hear what was being said. What caught my ear was something that I could never understand; one person ordering for the other. The waiter had asked the woman if she was ready to order and the man answered, telling the waiter what she would have for dinner. Because our tables were close to each other, I had not heard any discussion between the two on what they wanted to eat. For the duration we were sitting there, I had to wonder how well they knew each other. As it turned out, we happened to bump into them at a couple of other meals and on one of our excursions. What struck me odd about the excursion was the fact we were told how to dress, due to the strenuous trek we would be following, and yet this woman was wearing shoes with high heels. For some reason, I started wondering what kind of relationship they had because it just seemed off to me. Having now seen this mystery thriller has only made me even more curious about those two.      AT A FUNDRAISING GALA, A TECH billionaire invites one of the servers to join him and his friends on his private island for a fun and exciting vacation. Once arriving and partaking in the daily antics, the waitress begins noticing some strange things that make her question what she is experiencing. With Naomi Ackie (Lady Macbeth, The Score) as Frida, Channing Tatum (Fly Me to the Moon, The Lost City) as Slater, Alia Shawkat (The To Do List, Whip It) as Jess, Christian Slater (Freelance, Chupa) as Vic and Simon Rex (Scary Movie franchise, Red Rocket) as Cody; this film written and directed by Zoe Kravitz started out well. I thought Zoe did a decent job with directing the movie, building up tension, with her shots and pacing. However, after a while the story started to drag on me. I thought the cast did a respectable job with the script, despite it being somewhat predictable and confusing at times. For example, I thought Geena Davis’s character was distracting and odd. It appeared to me Zoe was trying to get a message across; however, I felt it got bogged down due to her dealing with various aspects of bringing her story to the big screen. There were several scenes with blood and violence.                   

2 ½ stars