I was non stop talking about Us for two months, hyping it up, getting ready for it. When I walked into the movie theater on March 23 2019, I was jittery. I was finally about to see it. There was potential that I would be disappointed after I hyped it up so much, no such thing happened.
Jordan Peele proved himself as a horror director with his last critically acclaimed film, Get Out, and lives up to his reputation with Us.
Peele expertly blended humor with horror to create a riveting story about a family being followed by their doppelgangers, and fighting for their lives.
Throughout the movie, one would think that Peele is a veteran horror director with many movies under their belt, he is not. In only his second movie, Peele meticulously places symbolism through the whole movie, and makes the viewer think about every frame there is in the movie.
Even since the beginning of the movie, there is symbolism and foreshadowing that the viewer does not key into until the end of the movie. That is what a good horror movie, or any movie in fact, is supposed to do. Makes the viewer think back to how the whole movie relates, and Us does that so well.
Luckily, Peele does not rely on cheap horror cliches, like jump scares and stereotyped characters. Instead, he relies on the plot to scare the audience. The concept of the movie is as scary as anything physically in the movie
While the overall general plot was great, there were certain smaller details the movie did leave out, be it intentionally or not.
Without spoiling the movie, some of the smaller plot details were left open, for example where they got the red jumpsuits that are seen in the trailer.
This was overall made irrelevant by the grand scheme of the plot that Peele brought forth, and it seems unlikely that Peele would forget these details, his past works have shown such intricacy.
The cast that Peele brought together was impeccable, their acting chops were put to the test in this movie, with most of the main cast having to play a double version of themselves.
Lupita Nyong’o was stunning in the main role as Adelaide, and Red, her doppelganger. Adelaide was charming yet mysterious and Red was haunting the entire time.
Nyong’o was not the only actor that brought forth an amazing performance, Winston Duke, Shahadi Wright Joseph, Elisabeth Moss and Tim Heidecker did not disappoint. But perhaps one of the best performances came from the youngest actor for the main cast, Evan Alex.
One of Alex’s first movie credits was an extremely strong one, both his roles of the son Jason and his doppelganger Pluto was remarkable. Alex’s boyish yet mature approach to both characters was reminiscent of a seasoned actor.
Us was a seamless blend of horror and comedy, just the way Peele likes it. The plot kept me entranced throughout, and while I was walking out, I was doubting if this is the best horror movie I have ever seen
