Movie Review of Us

    Claudette Barius / Universal

Us Is Jordan Peele's Horror Masterpiece    

When it comes to horror movie genre, just two movies into his directorial career Jordan Peele is already an Oscar-winning highly acclaimed Master of Horror. His follow-up to the widely acclaimed Get Out, is a no holds barred suspenseful and shocking horror film Us. The story line is highly original with plenty of twists and turns, where just when the audience believe they have a handle of what's going on, the movie blindsides them yet again. It would be good enough to have a horror movie of this caliber have its core elements of suspense, shock, disguised plot twists, and gore. But this movie isn't just good enough, it resides firmly in cinematic greatness territory.

Beyond the horror, Jordan Peele also carries Us on a dark satire of a journey of how we, as different classes of society, treat each other. Where sometimes the different classes don't see each other at all, at other times one class completely ignores the others' existence. Despite all that, the film leads the audience to realize that we as people regardless of class are still the same. Finally when pushed beyond the breaking point, the abandonment of one class of a society can have dire consequences for everyone. 

The movie Us centers around the story of Adelaide Wilson, played by Lupita Nyong'o. We first see her as a little girl who disobeyed her parents and ran off into the carnival house of mirrors having a frightful experience, then as an adult fearing for the safety of her own family. All the while the feeling of the fright night as a child horrifies her, as though she expects a reckoning yet to come. Her worst fears come to life, as a red-clad foursome invade her family's summer getaway. But that is only the beginning of the horror yet to come.

Us... And Us In Red

When we first see Adelaide as an adult, she is now vacationing with her family on a beachfront resort. She and her husband Gabe, played by Winston Duke, meet up with another couple they have been casual friends through the years as they spend time on the beach. The aforementioned sense of reckoning is disturbing her, and Adelaide is unable to relax. Her tension overflows when her son Jason, played by Evan Alex, wanders off near a familiar house of mirrors. Us is very heavy on foreshadowing, as the audience see the same biblical reference that the young Adelaide first saw as a little girl - Jeremiah 11:11. 

To spare everyone a refresher course on the Old Testament, that verse basically means that bad things are going to happen and God will ignore all prayers. Sure enough, at 11:11pm, Us turns up the stakes as the mysterious foursome shows up as silent silhouettes on the Wilsons' driveway. They soon discover that the four red-clad jumpsuit wearing people are a doppelganger set of Adelaide, Gabe, Zora, and Jason - the Wilson family. Peele perfectly shocks the audience with these silent assailants, and the tension continues, as only Adelaide's doppelganger Red can speak, albeit in a raspy limited voice. 

Us In A Fight For Survival 

As Red begins to explain to Adelaide, she refers to the doppelganger family as the 'tethered', as if the Wilsons and their doppelgangers are actually tied to each other in some way. This goes well along the lines of Jordan Peele's social commentary in Us, of a class struggle - where one group of people prospers, while the other is dismissed and struggles in the dark. All that pent up resentment that the doppelganger family feels has boiled over, and they have come carrying scissors to achieve the freedom they crave via 'untethering'. At this point in the movie, the family members and their doppelgangers pair off, and an individual fights for survival ensue. 

As the fights progress, the real Us of Wilson family gains the upper hand and choose to escape to their friends' house. This is where the Wilsons realize that the struggle they are experiencing is not limited to them alone. I will cut off all the reveals here, as there's still a lot left to digest. But there are still a few twists for you, the viewer, left to discover on your own. Let's just say that the movie Us is a dark satire of discontent and, in some respects, a warning to all people that we must all fight to eradicate the scale of inequality in our society, or we are all doomed. In that sense, Us is a fitting title to this movie, as that word in itself doesn't distinguish class - it is all inclusive. 

Jordan Peele's Crowning Achievement

In the end after all the masterfully crafted horror, tension, and gore, Us actually symbolizes a hopeful message. It leaves the viewer understanding that we are all people, the same in every respect and desire. Given the chance to eradicate class barriers, we can all stand together with no need for violence. But it also provides a warning that we cannot take each other for granted and cast each other off, expecting the status quo to continue. It very clearly states, that there is a reckoning to be had, if inequality continues to spiral out of hand.

In Us, Jordan Peele combines all the traditional pieces of the horror genre, while carefully weaving dark satire in the form of social commentary. It is a master class in both entertaining his audience, while at the same time, making them think. Rotten Tomatoes' critics have given this movie a certified fresh grade of 93% approval, while Metacritic has given it a must-see score of 81 so far. I will have to agree on this one. As far as horror movies go, Us contains a highly original quality story, it is able to keep the audience terrified with its shocking plot twists and gore, and it provides a very poignant thought-provoking social commentary - something that most horror movies never approach. I give it a top score of 5.0 out of 5.0 stars.

Until next time, grab your popcorn, milk duds, turn off the phone, and enjoy the movie.