Jordan Peele’s Get Out is now a horror classic that blended racial and social issues/commentary, with humour, to create a horror hybrid that for once gives white fragility a big middle finger.
It went on to win an Oscar and made tonnes of money to a point that Peele is back with a bigger budget for
Us.
The question is: with the film already passing $70-million in the United States, is it another Get Out classic or a case of a well-run hype machine?
As with Get Out, Us centers round the black characters in a horror movie, which is still not common place.
Just check out all the horror movies from last year, the horror genre is still predominantly white - you can see it by the leads and creatives behind it.
The cool thing about Us is, it's not just a sole black character in a horror movie but a family, led by Lupita Nyong'o, who really shows up her acting muscle as both Adelaide Wilson and her doppelganger Red.
As she proved in Black Panther, Lupita can do physical action and in 12 Years a Slave she showed she has emotional range, which she dips into both for her dual roles in Us.
Winston Duke, who ladies loved as Mbaku in Black Panther, shows off his comedic skills here. As Lupita plays the Ripley (Alien franchise)-type character here, Winston Dude plays the buppy dad hard.
Although he is a massive man, he's not the action man in this role, and he pulls it off. He brings most of the comedic relief.
Shahadi Wright Joseph and Evan Alex are superb as the Wilson children. The kids deliver spectacular performances, especially when they play their doppelgangers.
The switch is convincing and there are no weak bits, even when it comes to the very young e.g. Madison Curry who plays Lupita’s character as a child.
Just wish I could say the same about the theme and logic behind the film. The themes are actually noble; the film deals with the idea of how in our society those that matter are those who make it and those who don’t are over looked and ignored.
The film comments on class issues in our society and has something to say about it… that's all I can say without getting into spoiler territory.
But unlike Get Out, it feels like the politics and themes of the film hamper the plot. Certain plot beats happen to drive a message that Peele is pushing but within the logic of the story they don't make sense. The more one interrogates them, the more the premise does not hold together.
Don’t get me wrong, the film is entertaining - you get your laughs and jump-scares but when the film is over and you walking out and you start adding 1+1 together, you realize not everything adds up.
Which took away from my general experience of the movie - it's not that lightning in a bottle that Get Out was creatively… but the film has something to say, which is to be commended.
So if you like your jump-scares with your laughs, then you are in good company… just try not to over think it if you do… you may find yourself more conflicted than satisfied with Us in spite of its great themes and clever premise.
It felt like: Invasion of the Body Snatchers meets home Invasion Horror Tropes.
Fun Trivia: Lupita Nyong'o, Winston Duke and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II all went to 'varsity together and have big ties with superhero movies with Lupita and Winston in Black Panther and Yahya as Black Manta in Aquaman.
Rating
***
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Index
*Trash ** Ja nee ***Ya zama-nyana ****We are cooking with gas *****Instant Classic