Spoiler warning! Do not read this article if you haven't watched the movie. You have been warned.
I was extremely excited for this movie. My hopes were way too high. And that was probably a big mistake on my part. I should have managed my expectations. So, I’m sad to say that, I ended up slightly disappointed. Us did not feel very cohesive to me. It was good but not great like Get Out was.
That's sad because visually Us is amazing. The cinematography is great, Jordan Peele really knows his way around the camera. It has also a great set-up. The first half of the movie was very well executed. I had a lot of fun with the horror and the comedy. Scenes like when the white family got murdered or when a Tethered moved around and crept up in the out-of-focus background were amazing! So simple yet masterfully crafted. All the performances were also great! Lupita Nyong'o will no doubt get her second Oscar nomination. The way she was able to make her voice so terrifying was incredible to watch.
But the latter half of the movie fell off a little and it didn’t make much sense to me. I’m fine when movies have some unanswered questions. But this one had way too many. And I was left with a bunch of “why” and “how” questions that have been bugging me since I watched it. Things like, how she was able to orchestrate the entire attack? How and why did the government create these twins? And how Jason was able to ‘control’ his doppelgänger?
Also, I (and probably half of the audience) saw the twist coming from a mile away. I did like the idea of it. But, it could have been constructed better.
I have watched and loved a lot of movies that are abstract and are open to interpretation. But they still make sense. Not this one though. The plot just didn’t hold up for me that well. Maybe Peele should have developed more the story. So many things that just don’t make sense at all.
The word on the Internet is that Us is an allegory about contemporary human nature. The entire movie is nothing but a metaphor for socioeconomic inequality in the United States. Us = U.S.
This theory makes sense. And I would love if it turns out to be true. But, it still doesn’t answer all the burning questions that I was left with.
Overall, Us is a good movie. But did not blew me away like Peele’s first movie did. Get Out’s script is just so tight. When you rewatch it you’re able to pick out all of the foreshadowings, it is so great!
To really enjoy Us you have to care less about what everything meant and just enjoy the atmosphere and aesthetic. And that is such a shame because it’s an interesting premise and I could see it being as good as Get Out. I’d give it a 7 out of 10.