I got 5 on it, 3.5 readers.
BQB here with a review of Us.
Jordan Peele went from wacky comedian to serious horror film director in Get Out. His challenge here was to prove he could keep the pace going, and he does.
The plot? The Wilsons (Lupita Nyong’o as Adelaide/Winston Duke as Gabe) are a middle class family who bring their kids to Santa Cruz, California for a vacation with their family friends, the Tylers (Elizabeth Moss as Kitty and Tim Heidecker as Josh.)
Alas, the shit hits the fan when a family of dopplegangers arrives at the Wilson’s vacation home. Each one of the strange intruders looks exactly like the Wilsons, but with the exception that they are basically feral monsters, looking to kill and destroy.
I’ve always thought that the best horror flicks rely less on CGI and more on feeling and emotion, things that are brought across through sights and sounds. Peele excels with that. The eerie facial expressions of “the Tethered” will freak you out, giving you a creepy look into the idea that we all may have a twin lurking beneath the surface and that twin may not be happy with us at all.
Sidenote – That may be the underlying social message of the film. You see, as Red, Adelaide’s copy, explains, whenever Adelaide experienced joy, Red experienced pain. Does one person’s joy cause another’s misery? Perhaps that might be looking into things a little too in depth. Or perhaps not.
All I know is this was scary, with some dashes of dark humor. There are epic plot holes galore and the movie starts to fall apart if you put too much thought into it. But Peele asks us to suspend disbelief and so we do…or should. I don’t know if I ever did. I still have unanswered questions.
Lupita has been a part of several big films this decade but as far as I know, this is her chance to shine in a lead. Meanwhile, Winston Duke proves his versatility, from playing Black Panther’s ultra macho frenemy last year, to playing the happy go lucky, nerdy dad that his wife kids are embarrassed of here.
STATUS: Shelf-worthy. I might be a little hung up on the social message I perceived. My two cents is that yes, elsewhere in the world, there are people who suffer while we watch TV and play video games and go to movies and go on vacations. How best to address that though? If you’ve been an avid news watcher over the years, it seems as though America can do no right in addressing the world’s ills. Attempts to help are met with accusations of America trying to take over. Attempts to stay out of the problems of other nations are met with accusations of being cold and uncaring. Then again, maybe it isn’t about suffering people abroad. There are plenty of people who are suffering right here at home.
My main unanswered questions lie within how the copies exist and how they work but to talk about that here would be to give it all away. However, if you’ve seen it, feel free to discuss in the comments.
Bookshelf Battle 