Us

Jordan Peele is at it again!

Hard to say too much about this one without spoiling, but here goes. The acting is good, especially considering many of the actors plays two roles. They all do a bang up job in that regard. So no trouble so far. The movie looks good. I have no complains here either. It's technically very well made. We always see what's going on, no shaky cam or anything like that. Some nice shots too. The humor works pretty well, the dialogue comes off as natural. I like the beginning of the movie, the family is pretty likable. The movie is sort of a mystery, and when the mystery unravels is when we get to some slight problems. The scrips seems to be based on a pretty good idea, that was never thoroughly worked out. It just isn't thought all the way through. I am left with several questions, and not in a good way. This is spoiler terriroty, so I won't go into detail, but it didn't sit well with me. Doesn't seem to make sense. The plot has more holes than a swizz cheese. (that almost no critics talk about this is very strange)

Now, in the movies defence, the sub-genre it turne out to be is very far from my favorite, so others might like it better. I've seen a lot of horror movies, and this is just not one of the best ones. It is mediocre. Not a weak movie, but definitely no classic. Will not be watching it again.

People thinking this will be a straight-forward horror film will be disappointed; Us (2019) is a complex, mind bending experience that tests the limitations of what a horror film can be. What's great about the film is how differently people will interpret what they've witnessed. I left the theater tonight to the sounds of people passionately discussing theories, different explanations and thoughts on it all - and that, to me, is one of the great joys in leaving a great film.

I hate saying this, but this film is the product of when you've got incredible everything and an underdeveloped script. The concepts are great, but lose their value and appreciation because there is so much with so little explanation, leaving me with the impression that they were not completely thought-out. Acting was incredible, cinematography, lighting, set design, and sound track were wonderful too! It's just that the script and story does not fully deliver. It's so conceptual that it loses horror, yet so rushed in execution that it loses coherence.

I wanted to like this movie, I was so excited about the trailer and I like the idea behind it, it's very original... but it simply didn't happed. Although we can say that Jordan Peele is a filmmaker who thinks outside the box and brings important and strong subjects, I thought the movie was poorly developed. I need to believe in what I'm watching, but there are so many plot holes and inconsistencies that the whole experience was damaged. The metaphors are confusing, the explanations are flat and forced, the writing felt really lazy to me. And to add, I thought the mix of comedy and horror, that can be made in very harmonic ways, was unbalanced. All the time the comedic moments came up to break the tension, so I was not able to get scared at all and I wanted to be. Nevertheless, I'd like to point out the amazing acting of Lupyta. Her delivery is always intense and strong, no matter which character she is playing. And I hope Peele keeps his originality, but learns to develop better narratives in the future.

I am torn on whether or not I like the story of Us. Part of me really likes the originality of the idea and the subtle social commentary the film delivers; however, I felt that despite Us having an interesting idea, the execution led to a disjointed story that felt a bit scatterbrained. There were definitely parts of the film that were suspenseful and horrifying, but at the same time, other parts felt too over-explained or tropey. This leads to me having many unanswered questions about certain aspects and feeling like other aspects shouldn't have been explained at all to keep the mystery. I think the story is hard to talk about without spoiling it, but overall, I expected more from Jordan Peele's writing but did enjoy some of it.

Despite my indecisive feelings of the film's story, many pieces of the film were exceptionally well done. One aspect that stood out in Us was the soundtrack and the usage of music. I think the original soundtrack was memorable and used appropriately to accentuate the feeling of horror at some points in the film. On the flip side, the soundtrack was used to perfectly contrast what was going on onscreen. This led to some great sequences (the Beach Boys scene) that utilized the soundtrack in an interesting way. Another part of the film that I really enjoyed was Lupita Nyong'o and the child actors' performances. Nyong'o in particular is the most terrifying part of the film. She plays both a horrific monster and a badass mother, making it easy to forget that the same actor plays them.

As a whole, I think Us is an enjoyable horror film that has some missteps with its story elements and structure. I would recommend this film to horror fans, but don't go into the film expecting anything like Get Out.