Director Jordan Peele
Genre Horror | Thriller
Cast Winston Duke, Lupita Nyong'o, Elisabeth Moss, Anna Diop
Rating R
Release Date March 22nd, 2019
“A family’s serenity turns to chaos when a group of doppelgängers begins to terrorize them.”
Written and directed by Jordan Peele, the comedian/actor turned director who made a huge splash with his horror/thriller Get Out 2017, Us is yet another foray into a similar genre. Us tells the story of a mother and father who take their kids to their beach house expecting to enjoy time with friends, but their serenity turns to tension and chaos when some visitors arrive uninvited. Similar to the vast majority of critics and viewers alike, I really enjoyed Peele’s debut Get Out and couldn’t wait to see what he came up with next. A self-proclaimed horror fanatic, it seems we have yet another gem on our hands from this rising star. Check out our thoughts on Us below and if you did’t catch the trailer you can see that below as well!!
Did Us live up to our sky high expectations?!
I knew that Us had a steep hill to climb after Jordan Peele’s monumental success with his debut film Get Out, but lucky for viewers Peele proved that he has a few more tricks up his sleeve. Us is a tone-setter that once again highlights the talents of a skilled writer and director, a combo that can go quite a long way when combined with vision and ambition. If you’re searching for a film that will have you sitting in the parking lot for 45 minutes after the movie excitedly trying to discuss what you just watched, look no further. One thing Peele does better than anyone is to somehow give his films the general feel that politics are involved without ever feeling political, and that is a HUGE plus in my book because who really cares about politics?! At times I was confused, intrigued, tense, and downright joyful as I laughed out loud in the theater (or LOL’ed as they say). I would have to say Winston Duke, who most will remember as M’Baku in Black Panther/Avengers: Infinity War, played my favorite character overall. This guy is barely 5 years into his acting career and I think we will continue to hear his name quite a lot in the future.
The only thing that left me feeling unfulfilled about Us was the scare factor, and to be honest that is as much on me due to this darkness deep inside me that has left me unable to be scared unless you give me something like Hereditary (damn that movie is MESSED up!). Seriously though, the trailers were genuinely creepy and unnerving and the movie did have that feel often but the balance leaned towards humor more often than you are really able to in a true horror film. Now with that being said, in no way is that a knock on this film - Us is smart, creative, extremely well-written and superbly acted, and more than anything else thanks to the incredible depth within the layers of the story this is a movie you will have to see at least a few times.
Simply put, Us lives up to the sky high critic ratings you have seen plastered all over the interwebs - so what are you waiting for, get out there and see Jordan Peele’s latest hit!! Highly recommended.
