Movie Review - Us

MegaSoulhero After the hit film Get Out, Jordan Peele went on to direct another film. It’s called “Us”. I recently watched it. I was kinda hesitant about doing this review since I think I’m the only person who hates this movie. But I just really need to let you know my thoughts on it. The trailers made it look good, but it ended up not being that.

It’s about a family who are living in a beach house in Santa Cruz during a vacation, but they find out about these people that live underground who are actually clones of people on the surface. So they try to figure out more about them and try to keep themselves from being killed by... themselves. First, I’ll talk about the things I liked. This is a very well directed film. Each actor gives a great performance. Lupita Nyong’o is easily a stand out performance. I was able to believe her emotions and fear in every scene. The whole family feels like a real family. Their interactions feel genuine. They have perfect chemistry with each other. I should know because they remind me of me and my family. Like, almost exactly like my family. I also thought the movie was very well shot. I didn’t have a problem with seeing what was happening on screen. I also kinda liked the beginning of the movie. The way it starts make it seem like it will be very interesting. It’s a really great way to set up the film.

Unfortunately, it falls flat when the plot starts to kick in. One problem I had was its inconsistent tone. There’s a lot of humor in the film. While it did work at times, there were also times where it felt very out of place. The characters are in the middle of trying not to die, yet they decide to crack a few jokes such as having a long discussion about how many of the tethered people they killed and referencing Home Alone. We also hear a Beach Boys song playing while some of the doppelgängers are killing a family. It makes it hard to take what’s happening seriously. Also, one of the doppelgängers just randomly puts on makeup for some reason. They spend a lot more time on that than they should have. Honestly, what were they going for here? The movie also ends up having those horror movie tropes that just really bother me. The characters often make such DUMB decisions. Like Lupita’s character leaving the car even though they could just drive away and most likely be fine. There’s also moment when the clones have a chance to kill the main family but don’t. They just take their time because plot convenience. It’s only when they kill other people that they don’t hold back. There’s not a single scary moment in this film. There were some people in my theater who kept gasping at certain moments, they were obviously girls, but I was just sitting there with my hand on my chin, not reacting to the kills or the moments that tried to be frightening. A lot of moments didn’t make any sense. And that ESPECIALLY includes the twist at the end. I saw the twist coming from miles away, but I was still surprised that they went this route. It felt like a something Shyamalan would have done. When the movie was over, I still had a lot of questions. One of them being where did these clones even come from? That wasn’t explained in the film.

Us was a HUGE disappointment. Jordan Peele is a great director, but this movie did not work for me in many ways. It’s not just because I don’t like horror films. I was actually looking forward to this one. Unfortunately, it’s not something I would come back to.

Score: 4/10

Comments

As a Santa Cruz native, I couldn't believe no one had told me this movie was filmed in the Santa Cruz beach boardwalk until the release of the trailer. I thought Get Out was probably one of the best thriller/horror movies out there. After reading this, I don't know whether I'm going to watch this or not. - TristGamer

I kinda disagree with this one though, I liked this film. Oh well, opinion respected. - AlphaQ