User reviews

Trailer was better than the movie. To me this movie just never takes off. It's a shame because there is some fantastic imagery and a wonderful theme lying underneath but in the end it can not overcome its plot holes and failed delivery of the message its trying to speak. It truly believes it's deeper than it is, but left me unfulfilled. Kind of lazy/rushed writing in my opinion. Kind of just throws a bunch of mediocre stuff at you without any real substance and expects the audience to give it purpose and deeper meaning in there own heads. Which is fine to do but to me this movie wasn't worthy of that merit of thought. You keep waiting for it to evolve but it just never does. Honestly can't believe critics are putting this on such a pedestal giving it such rave reviews.

Was excited to watch this movie with all the hype surrounding it. The first 20 mins or so was on par with my expectations and then it just fell flat on its face. Not nearly as good as Get Out. Way to many plot holes and un answered questions. Acting was decent and writing was average. Some funny parts and the soundtrack are the only thing that really saves this movie from being a 3 or a 4.

I am torn on whether or not I like the story of Us. Part of me really likes the originality of the idea and the subtle social commentary the film delivers; however, I felt that despite Us having an interesting idea, the execution led to a disjointed story that felt a bit scatterbrained. There were definitely parts of the film that were suspenseful and horrifying, but at the same time, other parts felt too over-explained or tropey. This leads to me having many unanswered questions about certain aspects and feeling like other aspects shouldn't have been explained at all to keep the mystery. I think the story is hard to talk about without spoiling it, but overall, I expected more from Jordan Peele's writing but did enjoy some of it.

Despite my indecisive feelings of the film's story, many pieces of the film were exceptionally well done. One aspect that stood out in Us was the soundtrack and the usage of music. I think the original soundtrack was memorable and used appropriately to accentuate the feeling of horror at some points in the film. On the flip side, the soundtrack was used to perfectly contrast what was going on onscreen. This led to some great sequences (the Beach Boys scene) that utilized the soundtrack in an interesting way. Another part of the film that I really enjoyed was Lupita Nyong'o and the child actors' performances. Nyong'o in particular is the most terrifying part of the film. She plays both a horrific monster and a badass mother, making it easy to forget that the same actor plays them.

As a whole, I think Us is an enjoyable horror film that has some missteps with its story elements and structure. I would recommend this film to horror fans, but don't go into the film expecting anything like Get Out.

I hate saying this, but this film is the product of when you've got incredible everything and an underdeveloped script. The concepts are great, but lose their value and appreciation because there is so much with so little explanation, leaving me with the impression that they were not completely thought-out. Acting was incredible, cinematography, lighting, set design, and sound track were wonderful too! It's just that the script and story does not fully deliver. It's so conceptual that it loses horror, yet so rushed in execution that it loses coherence.

Jordan Peele is at it again!

Hard to say too much about this one without spoiling, but here goes. The acting is good, especially considering many of the actors plays two roles. They all do a bang up job in that regard. So no trouble so far. The movie looks good. I have no complains here either. It's technically very well made. We always see what's going on, no shaky cam or anything like that. Some nice shots too. The humor works pretty well, the dialogue comes off as natural. I like the beginning of the movie, the family is pretty likable. The movie is sort of a mystery, and when the mystery unravels is when we get to some slight problems. The scrips seems to be based on a pretty good idea, that was never thoroughly worked out. It just isn't thought all the way through. I am left with several questions, and not in a good way. This is spoiler terriroty, so I won't go into detail, but it didn't sit well with me. Doesn't seem to make sense. The plot has more holes than a swizz cheese. (that almost no critics talk about this is very strange)

Now, in the movies defence, the sub-genre it turne out to be is very far from my favorite, so others might like it better. I've seen a lot of horror movies, and this is just not one of the best ones. It is mediocre. Not a weak movie, but definitely no classic. Will not be watching it again.

A family take a trip to the beach, and soon after their lives take a deadly twist as doppelgangers begin to appear.

I didn't care for it when I saw it at the cinema, but I thought I'd take another look, based on the various awards, and some of the many good opinions about it.

Once again, I'm of the same opinion, total frustration, what a totally frustrating mix of ambiguity, good acting, good ideas and poor storytelling.

I loved the initial premise, and those scenes where the family are terrified by their doubles, brilliant, so creepy, but sadly after that it just descends into nothing.

I felt like I was just left to scratch my head wondering exactly what was going on, we're only given a snippet of the story, I wanted to know more.

There were a couple of good scenes, and a few good jump scares, but nothing to really register or keep you awake at night, they could have gone so much further.

I will commend the acting, I thought Lupita Nyong'o in particular did an excellent job, especially playing the two parts.

Overall decent, but a little disappointing.

6/10.

People thinking this will be a straight-forward horror film will be disappointed; Us (2019) is a complex, mind bending experience that tests the limitations of what a horror film can be. What's great about the film is how differently people will interpret what they've witnessed. I left the theater tonight to the sounds of people passionately discussing theories, different explanations and thoughts on it all - and that, to me, is one of the great joys in leaving a great film.

I wanted to like this movie, I was so excited about the trailer and I like the idea behind it, it's very original... but it simply didn't happed. Although we can say that Jordan Peele is a filmmaker who thinks outside the box and brings important and strong subjects, I thought the movie was poorly developed. I need to believe in what I'm watching, but there are so many plot holes and inconsistencies that the whole experience was damaged. The metaphors are confusing, the explanations are flat and forced, the writing felt really lazy to me. And to add, I thought the mix of comedy and horror, that can be made in very harmonic ways, was unbalanced. All the time the comedic moments came up to break the tension, so I was not able to get scared at all and I wanted to be. Nevertheless, I'd like to point out the amazing acting of Lupyta. Her delivery is always intense and strong, no matter which character she is playing. And I hope Peele keeps his originality, but learns to develop better narratives in the future.

I was excited for "Us." Following Jordan Peele's "Get out" and a phenomenal first trailer; I was pretty excited to see where this movie was going. After watching the movie in full I was confused. I was confused whether I thought this was an entertaining/eh movie or if it was a spectacular movie. After deliberating in my mind I believe this movie is pretty great! There are admittedly some logical issues that don't really add up in my own head, however, I think Peele wanted this to be a talking point. He instead focuses a lot on symbolism and honestly it's beautiful and a bit scary.

The character dynamics are really cool to watch. Especially Adelaide/Red. I was kind of obsessed with the creepy-like leadership motions of Red. I can only imagine this was a fun role for Lupita to play!

Whilst not just as good as Get Out, Us is a film I really can't stop thinking about. I kind of liked it, I kind of didn't and honestly, I'm a bit conflicted. I think the cinematography and concept are absolutely fantastic. The acting is pretty good and the score is great. The editing is probably the weaker parts of a really damn good film and really lets down the script and a lot of the execution.

I think some of the script is half-baked with plot-holes but what it does with the concept itself feels like something out of a great short story. The main actress is fantastic honestly, she does a great job and what happens at the end really turns the plot on its head and I'll definitely be having a different experience in the next watch which is great.

I really love how bizarre this film is, I love the ambiguity and the direction. I love the style and execution. It's a sort of creepy style which I've loved in other short films which hasn't really been explored until now. There are some great unlaying themes in there as well but it still definitely has its problems especially in the sound editing (the soundtrack is great but it is overused in parts where it didn't need to be) and the editing itself especially in several cuts between the past and the present.

In the end, though, I see myself really coming to love it on a second watch, I honestly can't stop thinking about it even though there were some things that could be better but this film really shows that Jordan Peele is a force to be reckoned with especially in Horror. I would love to see him tackle other genres or Horror sub-genres. If you liked Get Out, you'll probably like this film too, it's a really interesting film and it will be talked about for years to come. I give this movie a Not Perfect but Very Interesting/10.

I enjoyed Get Out (2017) but I wasn't aboard the hype train, it was good but I didn't understand why people ranted and raved about it being incredible.

Upon seeing the trailer for Us I was excited, I loved this idea it looked positively chilling. As always however I assumed the worst, I've long since learned to keep my expectations low when it comes to Hollywood films.

Well, I class Us in the same category as Get Out, namely it's good but it's hardly anything special.

It tells the story of a family who come under attack by their own clones. The concept works and the film turned out to be miles above the home invasion film I expected it to be. In fact the scale is far greater than I assumed, this was really quite good.

The cast do a great job, but for a movie that tries to come across genuinely scary and chilling there was a lot of comedy thrown in and I'm not sure that was a great idea.

The story is decent, it's well paced and it all comes together in the end. However something didn't feel quite right, something I can't quite put my finger on but whatever it was kept the movie from being anything beyond enjoyable.

Peele has delivered another enjoyable film, but don't believe the hype.

The Good:

Great idea

Fitting soundtrack

The Bad:

A couple of plot holes

Inconsistent tone

Us is a puzzling film that slowly reveals its layers but then becomes more illogical and confusing.

It is better to not think about too deeply and just enjoy the ride. It means you lose any subtext the filmmaker had about a society of us and the others.

The film opens at the funfair in the boardwalk of Santa Cruz in 1986. A small girl, Adelaide is on holiday and wanders off while her father is playing whack-a-mole. As she enters a funhouse she sees a doppelgänger of herself in the hall of mirrors. This encounter left her unable to communicate for some time and still affects her in the present day.

We then cut to the present day when Adelaide Wilson (Lupita Nyong'o) is vacationing at their summer home in Santa Cruz with her husband Gabe (Winston Duke) and two children Zora and Jason.

One evening the Wilsons see another family that looks exactly like them standing outside the house decked out in red overalls. They look like they mean to harm them and they are somehow tethered to the soul of the individual Wilson family members.

The doppelgängers all grunt except for Red, Adelaide's double who speaks with a raspy voice. Red tells Adelaide that both of them are tethered together and share a soul. These doubles live in a subterranean underground world.

As an home invasion horror it is very effective and chilling, we find out that other families are being slaughtered by their doubles. It leads to a problem. Why are the Wilsons being toyed with when other families are being brutally killed and the violence is spreading as the doubles attempt to enact their own Hands across America.

The moment the film broadens its premise it starts losing it logic. Even when the family try to get away from Santa Cruz and head down to Mexico, after driving all night they are somehow still in Santa Cruz. I've been to Santa Cruz it is not that big!

Jordan Peele tries to underpin his film with some kind of explanation and symbolism but it is half baked. He also wants to tie the film together by making it all about Adelaide. Unlike Get Out there is little humour in this film although Gabe is meant to be a dorky dad.

It's got some originality but it lacks the hook you want. The trailer is worth watching more than the movie in my opinion. I give it a 7 for the acting and comedy throughout. The main character is wonderful and her husband is the comedic relief in tense situations, even the kids played their roles well. The movie however, was all over the place. I don't think anyone in the theater really understood the premise until it was over and even then you're left shrugging. It's like the reverse of an early M. Night Shyamalan twist.

The movie you think you're going to get with Us and the movie you end up getting are two different things. Normally that's a problem but I think it works in their favour. If the movie was too formulaic or too obtuse, that would be one thing but it's clear that Jordan Peele has his own ideas and they're original enough to catch your attention. I wasn't a fan of every one of them but this movie isn't afraid to do its own thing and I have to credit Peele and his team for trying something new and being confident enough to bring it to the screen with a lot of fanfare.

One of the things I was more surprised by was the amount of comedy in Us. The trailer billed it as more of a straight horror movie. This movie is actually pretty funny when they try to be, from Gabe's corny jokes to the Tyler family's selfish behaviour, I laughed more than a few times. They also have a couple of choice references in there that made me smile. However, I don't think the movie is as carefully balanced as the best horror/comedies are. There were a few times where the audience I saw this with were laughing through some of more tense moments (the "Tethered" largely speak in grunts and the theatre I saw this in was giggling whenever one of them had to communicate) and it came of as unintentional. Us is never particularly horrifying but it is an effective thriller. So the team were able to play in both genres effectively but the tone of the movie shifts and its not always an easy transition.

The best thing about both of Jordan Peele's efforts as a writer/director is that he knows how to get great performances out of his actors. Lupita Nyong'o was excellent in her dual roles here. She's best known for her turn in 12 Years a Slave or as Maz Katana in the Disney Star Wars movies but there were moments in this where I was astonished at the job she was doing. She shines the brightest in a cast where everyone pulled their weight. Winston Duke was a lot of fun as a dorky dad, I thought he was pretty funny and he pulled off the physical work in the part. I thought the two kid actors, Shahadi Wright Joseph as Zora/Umbrae and Evan Alex as Jason/Pluto were both capable and did solid work. Elizabeth Moss and Tim Heidecker were decent as the Tylers, they're characters were jerks but they played them fairly well.

Now I've got to get to what didn't work for me. I have a hard time with movies where the story turns or the creative team make decisions where they are deliberately obtuse for the sake of creating a "metaphor" or leaning into some "symbolism." People make excuses for filmmakers saying "it doesn't have to make sense" or "you get what you want out of it" but there has to be an effort to make things palatable or to try and bring the audience in (I had the same problem with the 2018 Suspiria remake). The fact that they wanted to do different things is admirable but several moments in the climax and the denouement of Us don't add up. I can't go into spoiling the movie and I do think that a movie that encourages debate is something that we need more of. I also think that no movie is ever perfect, you can always find something to nitpick or whine about. But I couldn't always just take what Us spoon fed me, there's so much to question and the film doesn't even try to answer or provide a way to the audience so they can figure it out. Maybe you'll feel differently but to just tell me to shrug it off is lazy and just an excuse (Peele has also done this better in Get Out, there's no deep explanation into the procedure but the way they presented it, I was fine that there wasn't a point by point explanation). I'd also note the final note in this movie is decidedly dark and while I liked it, I don't know if it's going to hold up to further scrutiny.

I wanted Us to be something special, I liked Get Out but I also thought the praise that movie got heaped upon it was a little excessive. It was really good but to call it a "masterpiece" seemed a little hyperbolic. So I went into the theatre hoping that this would be that striking and bold movie that I could fall in love with to hop on the Jordan Peele train. There's a lot of big ideas in Us and I thought the acting was very impressive (especially from Nyong'o) but this movie seems to play by its own rules only when it wants to, they explain so little without providing the requisite bread crumbs to follow along and while the movie has its share of funny material and thrilling moments, I didn't think they meshed well together. Peele is an exciting new filmmaker who isn't afraid to take chances or try something different. I look forward to more movies from him but I still haven't got that can't miss, have-to-see-it film yet from him (that's only my opinion). I liked Us enough to give it a 7/10 but I can't go any higher than that.