Film: Us
Starring: Lupita Nyong’o, Winston Duke, Shahadi Wright Joseph, Evan Alex, Madison Curry
Director: Jordan Peele
Review: Klep Napier, Miguel Lopez
Rating: 4X’s out of 5X’s
Fresh off of the hype of Academy Award winning film "Get Out" and soon to be the new face of horror/sci-fi series #TheTwighlightZone comes director Jordan Peele with his latest installment to the world of thrills and chills "Us".
Us follows Adelaide [Lupita Nyong’o] and her family on their vacation to Santa Cruz where something just feels very off to Adalaide. A horrific childhood memory haunts her and she no longer feels safety for herself or family, but just as she can convince her husband [Winston Duke] that it’s time to pack up and leave, they are visited by a creepy family waiting in the darkness outside their home. As the terrorizing gets even more intense, they realize that the family tormenting them are physically identical to THEMSELVES! Jordan Peele has done it again folks and what we mean by that is, Peele has managed to pull us into his world of creepy and suspense simply with clever cut shots in a trailer and that sadistic rendition of The Luniz classic “I Got Five On It”. Which by the way sets the tone beautifully in the trailer and during the 3rd act of the film. It’s arguably the best part of the films score. But let’s not waste any more time. Here are the wins. Us, sets up as a period piece set in the mid 80s. Peele makes sure to pay homage to his horror influences immediately. Call them “killer easter eggs” if you will. But as a real horror fan, you’ll hop on the ride with confidence to enduldge further just only 5-10 minutes in. And the cast? What a brilliant pairing. Not only due to their success, but Nyong’o and Duke make the perfect match. Monster blend of strength and humor. We could only hope for a romantic comedy from these two in the future, their on screen chemistry supports the films needs well. Even young actors #ShahadiWrightJoseph and #EvanAlex carry some weight and with ease. All the way down to production value, this was one hell of a professional cast and crew and for that all the wins go to Peele. Now as for cast, production and plot idea, there is nothing you can take away from this film, except these few but important losses.
Us to the naked eye appears to not exactly know what to do around it’s overall plot. The biggest loss may be its biggest win with some audiences. Forget what you think you know and forget the trailer. We all at this point think we have Peeles style figured out, so we go in expecting a major plot twist that will wow us when in fact the twist takes place elsewhere in the film (We Don't wanna give away too much). There are underlining metaphors, but those play as minor background and props. If by the end of that movie you walk out scratching your heads it’s because either you didn’t catch on earlier on, or the actors did a bad job at portraying the right emotion to deliver said twist to you personally! This makes this film feel extremely pretentious. After all we just want to be entertained, not psychologically evaluated right? Simply put "Us" is not "Get Out" people, and that's ok. Go into this with tempered expectations and for the creep factor of it and you will for sure be adding this to your list of top suspenseful thrillers. Go see this film and have an incredible conversation piece at work or school!