Us (2019) - Jordan Peele

It’s beating a dead horse to say that Hollywood has no new ideas. The fact is they don’t always know how to market a new idea. So everything is usually a remake, a franchise, or the clever soft reboot, where you basically remake a film but pretend it’s part of some extended universe. So when a director makes a horror film that inexplicably gets nominated for real awards, it stands to reason that person becomes a franchise unto himself. Jordan Peele has also cultivated this new-found status as a master of horror to helm a reboot of The Twilight Zone, which hopefully results in less real world fatalities as the 80s reboot.

Hello everyone, thanks for clicking on my blog. I’m here to talk to you about a movie, a new movie. I would say this review is geared more for the people who have either already seen the film or for people who have no interest and just want to read my take on it. That new films is called Us, Jordan Peele’s newest horror film because apparently after a decade as a comedian this is what he’s now known for. 

Blumhouse, makers of a lot of really shitty horror films produced Get Out and inexplicably struck gold. The terrible looking Ma has me convinced this was clearly a one time fluke, but ride that brand as long as you can guys. So it makes it nearly impossible to talk about this film without mentioning Get Out. As a matter of fact people really want you to associate this with Get Out, just like the confusing attempt to link that film with Spike Lee’s BlacKkKlansman last year. Simply saying “Here’s an original horror film” won’t work, marketing matters. So let’s remind you of something already successful. This is the same reason every new Ridley Scott film still says from the director of Alien and Gladiator. Unfortunately the trailers for this film made it seem like the most painfully cliched horror film. Every other shot of the trailer was people making weird creepy faces followed by loud screeches and jump scares. I took a leap of faith that this was just the result of a hack studio assuming this is the only way people would understand that Us is a horror movie.

So let’s talk about the fucking film shall we? Well I was relieved to see this picture didn’t lean into the massive amount of easy to predict cliches the trailer may have hinted at. I didn’t necessarily predict everything that was happening, and there were enough twists that I could put down my “seen it all before” skepticism. Get Out was far from subtle and at least had enough cultural impact to stick with you long after the fact. There are certainly moments and Easter eggs in this film that make you think it might stand up to closer scrutiny but the plot begs to differ. I don’t see this having quite the same cultural impact Get Out had and I would be a little shocked if it’s as fondly remembered come award season. Then again Green Book won best picture, so clearly there is no God and I know nothing.

The problem with Us is precisely that it doesn’t hold up under the microscope. Get Out was a film that had it’s social commentary right on the sleeve so months after the release you could forget a few of the horror film blunders and recall a very solid premise executed satisfactorily. Here the premise is substantially thinner and when it’s fleshed out it results in more of a “what?” response than any elaborate plan of genius. I’m not the first person to think of it as a good M. Knight Shyamalan film, and the ending definitely recalls his work. If you’re swept up in what’s happening the little details of how or why don’t bother you as much. However I’m not sure this film is compelling enough to sustain those moments.

Jordan Peele has seen enough horror films to know the incredible uphill battle that his movies are facing. He wants them to be good, and he wants them to stand up among the greats. Sometimes though the desire to go too far against the grain can make for a sloppy film. Captain Marvel was put in a no-win situation where they could either make a paint-by-numbers origin story or tell a non-linear version that sabotages our emotional connection to our protagonist. Here too Peele wants to take that master of horror mantle seriously so at times it seems like he’s reaching. A few jump scares aside, and way too many creepy grinning or turning your head sideways moments this film avoids many pratfalls. I braced myself for many stupid fake out dead moments, even more jump scares and this largely avoided them. Sure we get extended monologues with the speaker facing away from their audience, and about 1.5 false alarm deaths, but this is nitpicking.

Many people giving this film positive marks are doing so so because they forgive these flaws, and I get that. Hell whenever I’m looking at super hero movies there’s a small pile of bullshit I got to subtly ignore otherwise I’ll hate every damn one I watch. These particular flaws keep Us from being any sort of masterpiece. The movie is well made, there are some interesting set pieces, and overall pretty great performances from the cast but that whiny part of my brain just won’t let me like this film. Also at least the daughter bashed ‘dem brains in good and didn’t do that hit ‘em once thing and then think they’re dead.

So let me vent with a few of my questions. Where the hell did they get all those matching jump suits? Why did they drive presumably all night to get to nearby Santa Cruz, and how did their doppelgangers already get there? How long was that family going to stand on their driveway if they didn’t come talk to them? The cops said they’d be 14 minutes, but never show up, so yeah not really a question just a plot hole. Every tethered person is supposed to marry their above ground counterpart as well? I mean ok I guess? So the doppelgangers grand plan is to murder their tethered humans and then do hands across America? Ok so they’re in an underground system of tunnels and shit, but really they’re fed raw rabbit meat, seems like they could have hooked ‘em up with some bologna or other cheap prison food. Also one of the twins got hit in the head, fell over the balcony and landed in a glass coffee table, yet somehow sprang up hopping around screaming like 30 minutes later? Why is Adelaide (Lupita Nyong’o) yelling “No” at her fake son in slow motion instead of bashing his fucking brains in with the fire poker? Also how fucking fast is her counterpart to steal the real son, run like half a mile to their underground hideout without any of the family noticing?

I know the idea is that you’re just supposed to go with it, but this film doesn’t set up a surreal sort of universe where I’m willing to say “Sure that could happen”. No this film seems to make a point that this could be the real world, or this could happen and it just seems a little sloppy. I do very much like the Player Formerly Known as Mousecop and want to see him get to make more movies but like Get Out I feel like all the interesting parts of this picture have nothing to do with the horror. There are some ideas about class here that were worth exploring. I liked the counterpoint between the two families and the basic idea of returning to the scene of a childhood trauma makes for a compelling plot. However all this ham-fisted nonsense made me wish I was watching another film. Anytime a movie makes you think of The Village or The Strangers it’s never a good thing.

Pictured: A Master of Horror

This movie has already made it’s money and my two cents aren’t going to change people one way or the other, but they are my thoughts. I literally rolled my eyes when the very obtrusive music score started appropriating “I Got Five On It” during the final Adelaide fight. Keep in mind it didn’t bother me when “Just a Girl” started playing in Captain Marvel, this however not so much. The opening text to go along with the painfully drawn out “twist” seemed to kill any ambiguity or subtlety in this film. There are certainly worse ways to spend your time than watching Us, but overall I wouldn’t recommend.