2019 In Review: Us

This Is Us (Dark Universe)

AKA: Family Daily Double!

AKA: It’s no Get Out, but it’s proof that Peele is crafty

*As always, please forgive the slow descent into madness*

First things first: Jordan Peele is brilliant, and Get Out is every bit delectable as the screenwriting Oscar Peele rightfully nabbed when he gave that film to us (no puns intended).

Second: Us is without a doubt a genius concept filled with playfully clever ideas, a multitude of parallels on classism, racism and socialism, as well as an endless escapade of deeply rooted metaphors and layers about human beings and our alternate personalities, tethered souls and all (not to mention it’s just a mechanically well orchestrated film on nearly every level).

But the film is underwhelming.

  Now, rest assured what starts as a simple home invasion movie focused on a family develops into something MUCH deeper, darker and more complex than anyone could imagine stepping into this thing, but it also undermines the potential at being far more than what it is (though it is crucial to note that although the film isn’t genuinely frightening, Jordan Peele has in fact stepped up his horror game tremendously).

  It’s important to note Peele’s ideas and the structure of his filmmaking skills, because there are more subtle clues, minuscule details, and earth shattering references the man develops that put the film on a whole other level of brilliance, even beyond Get Out. Us is a continuous staple in the craft of Peele’s writing, and how goddamned mind blowing he is at it. From the personal parallels as to who we truly are in the lower level of ourselves; the true scum of the human race, down to the clear comparisons on how divided America is as a country; between every goddamned Easter Egg; everything from the carnival to the rabbits, the pop culture references, and the number eleven, Us delivers an overwhelming amount to unpack, but the film also very slowly stumbles into some giant twists, that aren’t unlike the second-tier works of M. Night Shyamalan. That’s no disrespect either (personally, The Village may actually be Night’s most underrated film but let’s NOT get started on that), but the twists of the third act of Us are bothersome because as brilliantly paralleled they may be, the explanations ultimately replace all the wonderfully bizarre and terrifying mystery the film leads on. Though still committed to a dark ending, the grandeur of the film’s more suspenseful (and superbly more entertaining) first two acts are all but completely lost.

*This is where things are gonna start getting spoilery - FYI*

 There’s no shade to be thrown at Us, being that it will likely end up becoming one of the more revisited films of 2019 based on its layers of cleverness alone, but once the twists are literally told to the audience in raspy-voice exposition by Lupita Nyong’o’s double, deemed “Red” (in a goddamned Academy-Award-worthy performance), the film feels a littlelike air being let out of a balloon, because all the genuine mystery and suspense is replaced with subtle government brainwashing plot, which is fine and all, but also disappointing in not allowing viewers to unpack deeper theories to the film’s meaning for themselves.

  Peele uses political parallels like the brilliantly eerie Hands Across America campaign as direct metaphors for our country being literally divided, making Us a lot more of a fitting title, being a film designed to literally reflect the very divided U.S., but once the doppelgänger plot expands, it’s difficult to not feel like Peele became incredibly ambitious with building a much bigger world than he could possibly present in a 116-minute runtime.

  By comparison, Get Out was simple and stuck to the limitations of that world Peele had created, where with UsPeele begins the film small and structured, but by the end peers back the curtain (and the final shot) wider than the eye can literally see, ultimately losing focus on the core family, even if they are treated with excellent character development. Where Get Out built all of the audience’s suspicions based on the film’s clues, and trekked up like a roller coaster until the climax’s big drop (delivering on ALL suspense), Us similarly builds on suspicion (more on genuine terror), but sort of wallops into an easy corkscrew. It’s still an exciting ride, just not nearly as thrilling.

  All criticisms to have are not to say there aren’t genuine layers of brilliant parallel that will keep Us as one of the most delightfully clever films of the year, and part of that aspect are indeed those core members of the family, and their literal reflections against the world they live in.

  Save for the wonderful acting by the entire cast alone (and the sheer commitment of Nyong’o), the four family members are each very individually and carefully fleshed out with care. What’s more, it appears their dark doubles (deemed “The Tethered”) contain layers of complex personality and mystery behind them, questioning the audience’s ability to even comprehend them as villains and the blurred lines between what we deem “good” and “evil.” I mean for fuck’s sake, the fact that each family member struggles with a distinct personal hobby (ballet, running, magic tricks, etc) and are out-performed by their doppelgängers, just goes to show how much dedication Peele put into the characteristics of the Wilson family. And that doesn’t even BEGIN to scratch the surface on the classist comparisons to the wealthy, white family (who have a set of identical twins) who are MURDERED by their identical doubles, to the sounds of Beach Boy’s good godddamned Good Vibrations!

  If Get Out was social (and comical) commentary on racism, Usis a literal mirror of fascist privilege. Peele is clearly a man of political reflection and his mouthpiece is not only loud, but powerful. I mean, God damn, the layers and depth behind this movie are SO fucking thick, which is WHY it hurts that badly, that the third act of this movie unanimously underwrites most of the thrills that proceed it.

 There’s a moment halfway through the film where the Wilson family is watching a news clip horrified to see how widespread The Tethered have developed throughout the country, and though them getting out (no puns) eventually does hold significance to the underground twists later on, the film never truly recovers after this moment. There’s genuinely great stuff happening in regards to The Tethered’s intentions; the line between vengeful murder and self sacrifice for a greater cause but as stated, Peele’s world building is simply too big for any justification in not only believing this event is spreading across the country, but buying into the grandiose ideas as to how easily it all came together.

  Peele is simply too ambitious. Or maybe I’m just naive. This movie is a goddamned gem FILLED with brilliance that somehow feels hollow. Get Out stung audience’s with a suspenseful, theater-roaring buzz to immediately see the movie again. Us leaves its crowd with a quiet, wide scope of our country finally united, if by murderous versions of the humans of America, hand in hand across the mountains, to the soothing 1970 sounds of Minnie Riperton’s Les Fleurs; an ending which (while powerful) slowly fades out with much less excitement, and far more dark dread.

 Perhaps this was Peele’s intention all along; not to frighten us with thrills but to disturb us with ideals; to string his audience literally across the U.S. to see Us: a harsh commentary on our country’s own dark reflection which slowly burns through the riffs of time and the winds of change, in hopes of self discovery in this very grim age of America.

Or maybe it’s just a neat-o horror movie with some really dope ideas.

Either way I need a stiff drink.

*100 points to Peele