Riding off the outstanding success of 2017's Get Out which secured him an Oscar win for Best Original Screenplay, Jordan Peele once again tries his hand at the horror and suspense genre with another bold and creative effort titled Us. Framing his stories around a Twilight Zone style narrative, Peele once again goes against the stereotypical norms of a mystery and horror thriller, placing an ambitious and inventive story, that centers around an African American family which is something most horror movies don't bother to show. One of the most noblest traits about Peele's work is the fact that he takes an ethnic group, that for the most part has been underrepresented in the horror/thriller genre and places them front and center in the story while changing up the horror formula. What made Get Out such a breakthrough film was the creativity that went into the story as it was effective and thrilling while carrying with it important social statements regarding race in today's society. With Us, Peele continues to incorporate important societal themes into his story while placing his characters as well as his audience in another bizarre scenario. While not as strong of a film as Get Out, Us remains a very strong sophomore effort from the rising filmmaker that's bolder, more ambitious, and divisive with its audience. For most movies divisiveness is a bad thing, for Jordan Peele's films, that's actually a good thing as it allows the audience to think and reflect on the message he's trying to convey.
The plot for
Us centers around an African American family visiting a seaside home where the wife (Played by Lupita Nyong'o) grew up in. Accompanied by her husband (Played by Winston Duke) and their children, the wife becomes increasingly paranoid during their visit as she becomes haunted by a past childhood traumatic experience which happened previously on the property. They soon are attacked by masked strangers, who once unmasked reveal that they share identical physical features to the family with unusual names and personalities. One of Peele's clear sources of inspiration for telling his stories is
The Twilight Zone as he brilliantly creates a nightmarish atmosphere that surrounds his characters with a steady buildup of suspense. Some of the themes that
Us covers range from psychological trauma to PTSD, paranoia, tensions regarding race, people lacking a voice in society, belief in the soul and God, cloning, and reevaluating what it means to be an American.
The ultimate message that Jordan Peele drives home with
Us is that issues regarding minority oppression, religion, and cloning can bring out the dark side in American culture. While Peele doesn't hammer the audience over the head with these themes and messages, he cleverly blends them into his story while taking his audience for a ride that's dark, brutal, honest, and eye-opening while doing it in such an entertaining fashion. Unlike
Get Out which carried a more straight-forward narrative, Peele doesn't spoon-feed the audience the plot this time, he makes the audience participants in the story and has them question what's happening and evaluate certain scenarios within the plot. While not every audience member will appreciate that form of storytelling, it creates a lasting impression on the film that draws the audience back to reexamine it through repeated viewings.
In terms of acting and directing, both categories are top notch with Peele's cast delivering totally convincing performances. Winston Duke and Lupita Nyong'o deliver very strong and totally believable performances as a young married couple witnessing their vacation being turned upside down. Out of the two performances, Nyong'o steals the show and dominates the screen both as the over-protective wife Adelaide and the imposter Red. Her acting along with the rest of the cast is incredible and scene-stealing as the two main actors give their soul to the material. The child actors Evan Alex and Shahadi Wright Joseph do phenomenal jobs and help sell the illusion along with the adult actors that the Wilsons are a likable and totally sympathetic family that you want to see make it out of their dilemma safely. The films strongest acting from the main cast comes when the Wilson family meets their silent doppelgangers, showing the actors going back and forth from being vulnerable as the Wilsons to sinister as The Tethereds, demonstrating performances that are completely opposite of each other from the same actors.
Along with the amazing work from the main cast, Jordan Peele's directing is stellar once again as he helps the actors create an appealing American family that the audience will unquestionably want to see survive regardless of how dangerous the situation becomes. Peele is clearly a
Twilight Zone fan and does his best effort to create another story that imitates the style and mood of the show with a dark atmosphere and striking cinematography. Peele clearly understands what makes a horror film successful and utilizes his time in telling the story wisely as he allows the audience to get to know the family while fleshing out The Tethered. While the films narrative may not be as simple to follow as
Get Out's was, the directors passion for telling a solid horror and mystery thriller remains equal.
In the end, this directorial effort by Jordan Peele will remain heavily divisive as audiences will be left dissecting the films message and scratching their heads by the films third act. Peele takes his time developing the films story and building the suspense by creating an effective opening flashback sequence involving Lupita Nyongo's character that leaves her mentally scarred while setting up what happens later in the story.
Us deserves major points for attempting to bring something new to the table in terms of puzzling and thrilling its audience. The latter it does an exceptionally good job of entertaining its audience while keeping them engaged. Jordan Peele once again demonstrates to audiences that he has a lot to offer as a filmmaker and is just getting warmed up. His second directorial debut remains as appealing and controversial as his first, although that film is easier for the audience to follow.
Us is a film that needs at least two viewings before one makes a proper judgment of it as they will have questions that need answering and want to make sure they caught everything. This film was not meant to please everyone as its ambition and drive to make its audience think will frustrate some while draw others to its mystery.
Us is easily one of the most thought-provoking, bold, and striking films of the year thus far as well as being one of the strongest horror movies released in 2019. If you loved
Get Out, you will love this movie or at the very least appreciate it for its attempt at being creative which it does a great job at being.
Final Verdict: A MUST SEE
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