Jordan Peele's sophomore directorial effort "Us"

I felt largely the same as I felt about Get Out. Peele delivers a great premise with some great thrills and sharp social insight, but he flubs the finale. In this case, I don’t even find much about the conclusion convincing in the least.

So I enjoyed, but I’ll probably conclude it is somewhat overrated once the praise rolls in.

On a side note, I reward this with a Rogue One award, given to films with several obvious alternate scenes from the trailer...

Shalom, y’all!

L. Bangs

 

Leftovers from The Favorite, maybe...? That's what happens when you start out with just two...

 

I like lots of symbolism in a four minute video like This is America but not so much in a two hour movie.

 

Saw "Us" last night and found it quite entertaining. Some of the plot points were confusing to me as I could tell from others in the theater. It required a night's sleep to think on it with a clearer head on the meanings behind the symbolism, disturbing behavior and talking points from the "Red" character. I found this Vox article explains it the best...

Us’s big plot twist, explained

The mentioning of the 1000's of tunnels in the US very few know about and the Hands Across America footage both at the beginning of the movie tipped me off into a different line of thinking. I think this movie is quite brilliant in the way it communicates our history of dealing with the marginalized in the US.

 

Spoiler

Rabbit stew

 

It’s not as good as Get Out, but nevertheless I greatly enjoyed it. Sure, I probably could pick apart the plot without much effort, and the story of the doppelgangers’ origins is just dumb...

Spoiler

The government created them? Really?

But the movie is very entertaining and held my interest start to end. Plus Lupita Nyong’o is extraordinary.

(As far as what Peele is saying about the state of the U.S., I’ll let others start that discussion... )

 

I've been fascinated with the symbolism of this movie. Dug down a bit and found this Hollywood Reporter take on all what this movie is about. It's a fascinating read in my opinion...

Looking at 'Us' Through Black Identity and Trump's America

Note the history of the "Hands Across America" campaign and what it turned into politically. I had no idea that is what happened back in '86. I was too busy with work and family to stay tuned.

 

As I check out more older episodes of Key and Peele, I now notice how dark and sinister many of their
comic skits are. Makes perfect sense that he moved onto Horror films.

 

Loved it. There were some clunky plot elements - when you're dealing w/ a hybrid of horror/thriller/sci-fi, not everything will ever mesh perfectly - but on the whole it was good narrative. Brilliant acting from the lead couple. Layers and layer and layers of metaphor and allegory. High tension evened out with laughs. I can't think of too many negatives.

 

Really loved it. At the end Peele gives credit to Spielberg and P.T. Anderson and that sums up the film: a well-crafted entertainment which pushes cinema as a reflection of society. Only in this artform can an artist juxtapose images, sounds, and ideas to a large community and Peele makes a very very valiant effort and looking at the boxoffice a successful one. Others mention a clunky plot mechanism etc. and yes that does lessen the film but there are so many ideas that this can be forgiven. I went to see it with a mostly younger audience (i.e. those pesky millennials with their phones out) and they loved the horror but at the end they seemed dumbfounded.

What did they just see? I saw a brilliant piece of entertainment and art that you have to see again to really appreciate the layers of themes and metaphors. I don't want to go into spoilers, just try to see it without any prior knowledge to really feel the impact. And realize that this film will stick with you, For example in the film they are two different characters wearing Black Flag t-shirts both in the past and present and I just figured it out as I was typing this haha. see spoiler below.

Anyone in Gen X (which I'm a card-carrying member) will love this, there are tons of pop culture references used and manipulated by Peele that could mean more to us. One of the films referenced is Lost Boys (filmed at the same beach as Us). Yes, we were the ones swept away by the idealism of Band/Live-Aid, Usa for Africa, Hands Across America and that all comes home to roost at the end of this film. Brilliant. Brilliant.

Spoiler: Black Flag

The band t-shirt is shown during the flashback and then on one of the twins during the present day. The image of 11:11 is repeated over and over so the band's symbol of the four bars fits appropiately haha

 

Finally got around to seeing this today. I did enjoy it, but didn't think it was as good as "Get Out". There's definitely a lot there though, so maybe more will reveal itself after multiple viewings, I know I didn't fully grasp "Get Out" after the first viewing. That said, it did make a much bigger impact on me more than this film did. I remember when I first saw that auction scene and it panned out to reveal the portrait of Chris, I totally freaked out! "Us" didn't have that kind of moment for me. I still think it was good fun and definitely worth a trip to the theatre.

 

Saw the ending about half way through the film. This one wasn't a great film. Not even scary. And actually I don't think the ending made sense in terms of its own plausibility....meaning the rules of the movie were broken.

 

I also saw the ending quite early on.

Good acting by both lead actors.

Not as good as Get Out but still decent.

 

Saw this last night. Thought it a fairly by-the-numbers horror with some social commentary thrown in. Entertaining enough but far from a must-see.

 

We saw it on Thursday and although it was interesting I didn't find it scary, which is something I look for in a movie like this.

I also don't know if I'm required to acknowledge all the symbolism or the director's point behind a movie to enjoy it.
In a horror film I would think the general story line itself should be enjoyable enough to stand on it's own with any symbolism etc., a bonus.

Maybe I've seen too many horror movies but after seeing a 95% positive rating or whatever the number was from the Rotten Tomato critics before we went I expected more chills or spooky moments.

 

Hereditary still stands as the scariest thing I've seen in the last 15 years. That's real horror to me & from the hype for this, I expected a similar reaction that never even came close to happening.

 

Hereditary for me was more than scary. It was down right disturbing and creepy especially the end. I don't think I'll ever get over the sound of someone clucking their tongue. I get chills just thinking about it. The daughter that was making that sound was just creepy on so many levels and then to feel sorry for what happened to her raised it to another level.

Thanks for reminding me of that movie. It was scarier than "Us".

 

I agree about "Hereditary". It was a great and somewhat underrated film.
However, I just saw "Us" the other night and thought it was brilliant. Scary in a different way than "Hereditary" was, but damn disturbing and suspenseful nonetheless.
Both films really made you think after they were over.

I had to watch "Get Out" a couple of times to really "get it" and fully absorb it. The same thing, I think applies to both "Hereditary" and "Us"; these are deep films that require concentration and attention.

I give "Us" a solid ****/5

 

Finally saw this last night. I went in with zero prior knowledge other than it was the new Jordan Peele movie. Didn't even watch the trailer, which is my habit when I really want to see a new movie, I like going in blind.

I loved it. I'm a horror fan in the classic sense (as in classic horror films), and I do not like overly gory films filled with jump scares and prolonged squeamish scenes. I do like real film tension, and good writing and well paced films. Us had all of that. I am thinking about going to see it in theatres again I liked it so much.

All the critiques of the film come from people saying it either didn't answer enough questions, or that the "twist" was too easy to figure out before it happened. Neither detracts from the film. I hate when films are dumbed down and every plot point is explained to the viewer via some expositional character or narrator. I like having some things left unexplained, and I love it when you can watch a film several times and get new ideas and perspectives each time.

I can't wait for the next Jordan Peele film.

 

Nailed it.

I saw it last night and thoroughly enjoyed it. I went in blank. I'd seen no trailer, read no article. I had only seen the poster and new it was Peele's new movie. So I was taken along with the crazy story and literally right down that rabbit hole. Yes, the story is pretty bonkers, it is a whaky sc-fi idea but it's the symbolisme that is important, the statement. A bit of a clumsy statement? Maybe, but a very entertaining one.

 

Saw it at a theater here in Bangkok yesterday with my wife, her sister, and sister's BF. I liked it a lot. They sort of liked it but said it didn't make sense, and seemed a little pointless. I think it made more sense than was immediately obvious, and that it takes a little digging and thinking to get to the core of story. It's not your typical horror film at all, which I consider a plus. After reading the comments here and the articles cited I see deeper things in the film and respect it more. I'd like to see it again.

BTW, I hadn't been inside a Thai movie theater for about 20 years and it was an interesting experience. This was an afternoon matinee and the seats were about 20% occupied. No one seemed to use their cell phones during the show and people were very quiet, except for my wife and her sister who chatted on and off (ahem!). The sound system and digital projection were very good. Seats were large and comfortable, with a nice steep pitch. Tickets cost about $7 each.

 

"Jordan Peele’s follow-up to his hit 2017 film, Get Out, offers a complex look at the duality of humanity, particularly that which exists within ourselves (us) and the United States (U.S.)."

 

Ok finally saw this. Saw the twist a mile away but still enjoyed it. I don’t think the film should have tried to explain anything as the explanation was so absurd that it just didn’t work for me. Sometimes no explanation is a better explanation. Good but not great movie that focuses a wee bit too much on heavy handed social commentary at the expense of a coherent or frightening narrative.

With this and Get Out, it’s clear why Jordan was tapped for the new Twilight Zone as his ambitions are very much in the same vein as Serling.

 

Given his recent (disappointing) efforts, including The Twilight Zone, I'd say his ambitions don't measure up to Serling's abilities.

 

I think that he’s trying, like M.Night Shyamalan to ape Serling’s approach, use of social commentary along with the O. Henry/Serling twist without falling into the same trap as MNS. U fortunately, I think he does fall into the same trap trying so hard for a twist that ties it all together in a clever package, that the projects fail to gel as well as they might. I still think Pelle is, so far, a much more interesting writer and director but he can’t continue to rely on the tropes established by Serling in The Twilight Zone. Here’s hoping he learns the lesson that appears to elude MNS that narrative twists aren’t necessary to tell a compelling worthwhile story.

While I did enjoy some of the new TZ episodes, the best ones still can’t and don’t transcend Serling’s original blue prints. The best or at least most interesting one I enjoyed was the variation and reimagining of Nightmare at 20,000 feet with a nice twist there that was quite different from Matheson’s original.

Nevertheless, I do think he shows promise as a director but it might help to work with a different, better writer next time.