Us (B- or 2.5/4 stars)
2017's Get Out was one of the most talked-about horror films of this century & it thrust 1st-time director Jordan Peele into the spotlight {and Oscar history}. Now, 2 yrs. later, Peele has given us his next horror/comedy/socially-relevant offering in 'Us', an uneven film whose intriguing premise, tense sequences, & stellar performances gets neutralized by 3rd Act exposition dumps & a case of 'too many ideas' at play. Peele opens with a scroll about abandoned tunnels in America; inferring that we're not ever sure what may be living down there -- well we find out in THIS movie. Following a creepy 1986 prologue set in a Santa Cruz amusement park/beach, the story jumps forward in time to 'today'. A family of 4, the Wilsons - Adelaide (Lupita Nyong'o), Gabe (Winston Duke), daughter Zora (Shahadi Wright Joseph), & son Jason (Evan Alex) - are traveling to their summer vacation at the lake.
Normalcy gives way to uneasiness for the family during a day spent with the boozy Tyler family (led by Elizabeth Moss) at the same Santa Cruz beach shown in the prologue. And then the sh*t hits the fan at night during a power outage when a creepy quartet stand silently at the end of their driveway. Adelaide is worried, but Gabe is more laid-back about this. However, when the strangers clad in red jumpsuits don't respond to his challenges, he tells his wife to call 911 & returns outside holding a bat. That's when the home invasion begins ... a superbly-crafted 20 min. sequence in which intercutting shows the fate of the Wilson family as the situation heightens & unfolds. Eventually there is lugubrious exposition explaining why the invaders resemble the victims. Known as the "Tethered", they are doppelgangers looking to un-tether themselves from their hosts -- and only scissors can do the trick. Bloody chaos, revelations & a plethora of brain-tickling metaphors ensue.
What makes 'Us' so involving in the 1st half is the creepy factor -- loved that! 'Us' embraces horror cliches; like dead people not staying dead & watching seemingly intelligent people doing STUPID things. Then the plot slows down & kinda goes off the rails, a bit -- just enough to make you forget you're watching a scary movie and take you OUT of the spell it initially cast so well. Some of the logic & plot developments don't make sense in retrospect. There's quite a bit of humor sprinkled throughout the film amid the violence. That said, said humor pops-up at some inopportune moments which deaden the suspense; or those moments just don't land, in any case. Where Get Out made me feel enticingly uncomfortable, the only discomfort I felt as 'Us' moved along was the realization of how little everything made sense {even as I was marveling elements of horror, cinematography, editing & acting}.
As Adelaide, Lupita Nyong'o's protectiveness of her kids is gripping, and as her "tethered" Red, with her bug eyes & scratchy voice {where words & air barely seem to escape her throat}, she is truly terrifying. Really, she gives not one, but two tour-de-force performances wrought in emotional turmoil and, by the end, it's actually understandable to 'feel' for both characters; and that's a tribute to Nyong'o's portrayal. Winston Duke - so fun in Black Panther - provides an everyman husband & some one-liner comic relief zingers. The child actors do a great job. And Elizabeth Moss is a hoot in her dual performance: one-part drunk housewife, one-part murderer who can kill, cry, then break-out in a sarcastic maniacal smile afterwards.
What saves 'Us' for me is, even as the film goes down the rabbit hole with its plot and swims in a pool of metaphors, there are many individual scenes, moments & visuals {superior camerawork, editing choices, sound design & music here than in his '17 offering, Get Out} that, taken in isolation, pack a punch. Viscerally, 'Us' gets the job done ... and then some. The issue for me is that, as a 'whole', it doesn't all work. You have to be forgiving to give Jordan Peele a pass by using the justification that most horror films are nonsensical, and that despite great filmmaking, copious metaphors trump the plot to its detriment. 'Us' is audacious, but in order to be bold, you have to have an airtight script down the homestretch, in my opinion.
Normalcy gives way to uneasiness for the family during a day spent with the boozy Tyler family (led by Elizabeth Moss) at the same Santa Cruz beach shown in the prologue. And then the sh*t hits the fan at night during a power outage when a creepy quartet stand silently at the end of their driveway. Adelaide is worried, but Gabe is more laid-back about this. However, when the strangers clad in red jumpsuits don't respond to his challenges, he tells his wife to call 911 & returns outside holding a bat. That's when the home invasion begins ... a superbly-crafted 20 min. sequence in which intercutting shows the fate of the Wilson family as the situation heightens & unfolds. Eventually there is lugubrious exposition explaining why the invaders resemble the victims. Known as the "Tethered", they are doppelgangers looking to un-tether themselves from their hosts -- and only scissors can do the trick. Bloody chaos, revelations & a plethora of brain-tickling metaphors ensue.
What makes 'Us' so involving in the 1st half is the creepy factor -- loved that! 'Us' embraces horror cliches; like dead people not staying dead & watching seemingly intelligent people doing STUPID things. Then the plot slows down & kinda goes off the rails, a bit -- just enough to make you forget you're watching a scary movie and take you OUT of the spell it initially cast so well. Some of the logic & plot developments don't make sense in retrospect. There's quite a bit of humor sprinkled throughout the film amid the violence. That said, said humor pops-up at some inopportune moments which deaden the suspense; or those moments just don't land, in any case. Where Get Out made me feel enticingly uncomfortable, the only discomfort I felt as 'Us' moved along was the realization of how little everything made sense {even as I was marveling elements of horror, cinematography, editing & acting}.
As Adelaide, Lupita Nyong'o's protectiveness of her kids is gripping, and as her "tethered" Red, with her bug eyes & scratchy voice {where words & air barely seem to escape her throat}, she is truly terrifying. Really, she gives not one, but two tour-de-force performances wrought in emotional turmoil and, by the end, it's actually understandable to 'feel' for both characters; and that's a tribute to Nyong'o's portrayal. Winston Duke - so fun in Black Panther - provides an everyman husband & some one-liner comic relief zingers. The child actors do a great job. And Elizabeth Moss is a hoot in her dual performance: one-part drunk housewife, one-part murderer who can kill, cry, then break-out in a sarcastic maniacal smile afterwards.
What saves 'Us' for me is, even as the film goes down the rabbit hole with its plot and swims in a pool of metaphors, there are many individual scenes, moments & visuals {superior camerawork, editing choices, sound design & music here than in his '17 offering, Get Out} that, taken in isolation, pack a punch. Viscerally, 'Us' gets the job done ... and then some. The issue for me is that, as a 'whole', it doesn't all work. You have to be forgiving to give Jordan Peele a pass by using the justification that most horror films are nonsensical, and that despite great filmmaking, copious metaphors trump the plot to its detriment. 'Us' is audacious, but in order to be bold, you have to have an airtight script down the homestretch, in my opinion.