Us

Jordan Peele’s follow up to the critical/box office success Get Out is a fun, focused film in spite of being a complete M. Night Shyamalan-esque, plot-hole-ridden/cheap-twist-ending mess. Already being prematurely dubbed a “cinematic masterpiece” by many, in reality it’s not a masterpiece, but rather an over-hyped, just “okay” movie. While Get Out was a tense and uncomfortable albeit preposterous film, Us, although somewhat enjoyable at times, is just preposterous.

Strange people break into Adelaide’s (Lupita Nyong’o) childhood home where her family is staying, but the family is shocked to learn that the intruders look like and talk exactly like them. Spoiler Alert: they’re doppelgängers! Spoiler Alert 2: we slowly find out that the doppelgängers are soulless clones of everyone in America living in underground tunnels emerging to take over the country. Some may think that’s a fresh idea, others may think that’s a totally stupid idea, but ideas alone don’t make for great movies. In order to make a great movie you have to have more than just an idea. Us is a good idea for a movie (kind of), but while the acting and production is top-notch, the script is mediocre at best. It’s more in line with a Twilight Zone episode (Peele is producing the new Twilight Zone series, which I’m very much looking forward to) vs. your standard horror movie (although this movie is filled with cheap “jump scares” and all the neo-horror movie trappings).

Us makes Darren Aronofsky’s Mother! (which was laugh-out-loud dumb) seem reasonable/watchable by comparison, but I’m obviously a racist for criticizing the great Jordan Peele. If you agree with this review in any way, well, you’re obviously a racist too. But I’m still looking forward to his Twilight Zone series!

[R]