In 2017, Director Jordan Peele turned the moviegoing audience upside down when he came up with a surprise film as his directorial debut. Previously known mostly as a comedian for his sketch comedy show Key & Peele with Keegan-Michael Key, Peele literally shocked everyone by writing and directing the thriller Get Out starring Daniel Kaluuya, Allison Williams, Bradley Whitford, and Lil Rel Howery. Among the awards that film earned was a Best Original Screenplay Oscar for Peele. Thus, anticipation was high for what Peele’s follow-up film would be. That film is Us.
As young Adelaide Thomas vacations with her parents in 1986 in Santa Cruz, she wanders into a funhouse where she sees a doppelganger of herself. Adelaide is eventually reunited with her parents, but can’t speak as a result of the traumatic experience. Thirty-three years later, an adult Adelaide (Lupita Nyong’o) heads to the family beach house with her husband Gabe (Winston Duke), and kids Zora (Shahadi Wright Joseph) and Jason (Evan Alex). While Gabe tries to impress their friends by buying a boat, the kids are forced to join their parents.
Adelaide recalls the event from her youth and is apprehensive about being in the area again, and her fears are confirmed when four shadowy figures appear on their front porch. The four turn out to be exact copies of their family, and storm the house while Red, Adelaide’s double, shares a creepy story about a girl who leads a happy life while her “shadow” suffers. As Gabe, Zora, and Jason face their respective counterparts, more and more of “the Tethered” appear all over Santa Cruz and on the news, seemingly killing their doppelgangers in random acts of violence. A strange secret experiment is revealed, as the Tethered who were once underground are unleashed on the surface world.
Peele supposedly wrote and directed Us after drawing inspiration from a classic episode of the TV series The Twilight Zone. Indeed, the film feels like one long episode of that show, and Peele is set to host and produce a new series of The Twilight Zone this coming April. Whereas Get Out was sometimes billed as a comedy or a drama, Us is promoted as a straight thriller and was marketed as such.
Perhaps the hype was too much or my expectations from Peele had gotten too high after his first venture, but Us didn’t work as well as Get Out did for me. Although the premise of an evil doppelganger often works in fiction and science fiction, something about Red, Abraham, Umbrae, Pluto, and the other Tethered didn’t quite get me jumping out of my seat. Maybe it was the fact that the first confrontation between the adult Adelaide and Umbrae happened so early in the movie that not enough time had been invested into heightening the tension like I desired. I’m really not sure.
Nyong’o and Duke reunite after working together in last year’s Black Panther, but their respective characters are very different from Nakia and M’Baku. In fact, Nyong’o is the clear lead in Us, and she adds a lot of creepiness in Red (as well as a voice that is barely a whisper) to separate her from Adelaide. The malevolence and eeriness that the actors who played the Tethered hammers home the fact that though they may be physically similar, the Tethered are almost animal-like in their primal rage and movements.
I realize that Us is breaking box office records and is scoring high on several review aggregator sites. I also know that a lot of people have been praising it for its premise. Still, the big revelation at the film’s very end could be predicted by anyone who has watched their share of thrillers and supernatural scenarios before. Unfortunately, I’m one of those people.
Photo Credits: Universal Studios
About the Author:
Jason Inocencio was once the Digital Editor of adobo magazine who still loves seeing great campaigns from all over the world. He proudly shows off his love for all kinds of geeky things, whether it be movies, TV shows, comics, sports, or trivia.
