Part 1 of a double header on March 23rd in Chicago.
This is the much anticipated second feature from writer/director Jordan Peele. The film opens in 1986 with a young girl, Adelaide, hanging out at the beach in Santa Cruz. Addy wanders from her father as he's playing whack-a-mole and ends up in the house of mirrors. Lightning flashes and Addy leaves the house of mirrors and is visibly upset. Jump to present day and Addy, Lupita Nyong'o, is back vacationing in Santa Cruz with her family; husband Gabe (Winston Duke), teenage daughter Zora (Shahadi Wright Joseph) and son Jason (Evan Alex).
Addy is uneasy about the vacation and has flashbacks about the aftermath of her experience in the house of mirrors. Addy's husband Gabe convinces Addy to go to the beach despite her trepidations. At the beach Jason witnesses some weird and creepy sh*t prompting Addy to bring everyone back to the house. When darkness comes that's when things really start to go downhill. Jason spots a family in the driveway. Gabe goes out to try and scare the family away but it backfires. He manages to get back to the house and lock the doors but the family breaks in. The "family" are actually doppelgangers of the Wilsons. Creepy!
The Wilsons are separated and Addy's doppelganger, Red, gives us some much needed exposition. Red and the doppelgangers are known as the "tethered." They share a soul with their counterparts and their lives mirror their counterparts but in a much less nice way. Eventually the Wilsons escape the house and make their way to the Tylers place, the Wilsons are kind of in competition with they Tylers or at least Gabe is. But the Tylers have been killed by their doppelgangers and the Wilsons are back in the frying pan. The Wilsons manage to dispatch the Tyler doppelgangers and escape to the boardwalk.
After a confrontation with Jason's doppelganger, Red abducts Jason and takes him into the tethered catacombs under the boardwalk. Addy gives chase and has a final showdown with Red. Addy rescues Jason and gets back to the surface. As the Wilson's drive away, Addy has a revelation that gives the audience a very interesting twist ending.
Although not quite as good as Get Out, Us was a very, very good picture. The film received a 94% Rotten Tomatoes rating and grossed over $254 million worldwide against a $20 million budget. This is a really creepy film with a cool ending. I don't believe that there is as much symbolism as Get Out but I have a tendency to focus on a film's mistakes more than symbolism, it usually has to be obvious for me. There are a lot of questions about the tethered. For instance, where did the rabbits come from for them to eat? How did they learn how to make and sew their red jumpsuits? How did they come about? Who monitored them? Things like that.
Peele himself said the film's central theme is about American privilege. Until I read that, I figured he just made a creepy film. With this follow-up, Peel continues to be a must see director until he runs into multiple hiccups and then we can reassess. Great acting from a solid cast, a lot of actors playing dual roles. Peele creates a lot of tension that keeps your eyes glued to the screen. There's some humorous moments to break the tension but the tension always comes back. There's good 80's pop culture references. Michael Abels creates a very creepy score that adds to the film's tension. A really well made film. A must see.
Addy is uneasy about the vacation and has flashbacks about the aftermath of her experience in the house of mirrors. Addy's husband Gabe convinces Addy to go to the beach despite her trepidations. At the beach Jason witnesses some weird and creepy sh*t prompting Addy to bring everyone back to the house. When darkness comes that's when things really start to go downhill. Jason spots a family in the driveway. Gabe goes out to try and scare the family away but it backfires. He manages to get back to the house and lock the doors but the family breaks in. The "family" are actually doppelgangers of the Wilsons. Creepy!
The Wilsons are separated and Addy's doppelganger, Red, gives us some much needed exposition. Red and the doppelgangers are known as the "tethered." They share a soul with their counterparts and their lives mirror their counterparts but in a much less nice way. Eventually the Wilsons escape the house and make their way to the Tylers place, the Wilsons are kind of in competition with they Tylers or at least Gabe is. But the Tylers have been killed by their doppelgangers and the Wilsons are back in the frying pan. The Wilsons manage to dispatch the Tyler doppelgangers and escape to the boardwalk.
After a confrontation with Jason's doppelganger, Red abducts Jason and takes him into the tethered catacombs under the boardwalk. Addy gives chase and has a final showdown with Red. Addy rescues Jason and gets back to the surface. As the Wilson's drive away, Addy has a revelation that gives the audience a very interesting twist ending.
Although not quite as good as Get Out, Us was a very, very good picture. The film received a 94% Rotten Tomatoes rating and grossed over $254 million worldwide against a $20 million budget. This is a really creepy film with a cool ending. I don't believe that there is as much symbolism as Get Out but I have a tendency to focus on a film's mistakes more than symbolism, it usually has to be obvious for me. There are a lot of questions about the tethered. For instance, where did the rabbits come from for them to eat? How did they learn how to make and sew their red jumpsuits? How did they come about? Who monitored them? Things like that.
Peele himself said the film's central theme is about American privilege. Until I read that, I figured he just made a creepy film. With this follow-up, Peel continues to be a must see director until he runs into multiple hiccups and then we can reassess. Great acting from a solid cast, a lot of actors playing dual roles. Peele creates a lot of tension that keeps your eyes glued to the screen. There's some humorous moments to break the tension but the tension always comes back. There's good 80's pop culture references. Michael Abels creates a very creepy score that adds to the film's tension. A really well made film. A must see.
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