Most movies coming out of Hollywood nowadays are boorish liberal propaganda that are a far cry from the days of Paul Newman and Clint Eastwood era. Good movies are rare.
But every now and again there is a beloved movie of the moment that stuns moviegoers so much that it’s almost a national phenomenon – while propelling the director to superstardom.
However, this director’s latest film was an enormous letdown.
Get Out swept the nation when it premiered two years ago. The unique movie that exposed liberal racism as a real and dangerous problem made it a surprise hit, even amongst leftists moviegoers.
Peele won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for that script.
Needless to say that anybody who saw Get Out was excited about Peele’s sophomoric effort. When the disturbing trailer hit on Christmas Day 2018, the viral sensation created a stir that’s almost unheard of.
That being a horror movie called Us, which finally hit theaters over the weekend.
Those that saw early screenings at South by Southwest claimed it was one of the best horror movies they had ever seen. You couldn’t find a single person who didn’t like it or at least say it’s only pretty good. The excitement was palpable.
But while those at SXSW hailed it as this undeniable masterpiece, Us was a letdown.
To be fair though, it wasn’t a bad movie, it was rather good, but it was a colossal letdown from the guy who gave the world Get Out.
The story follows a family of four and the matriarchy character with a dark secret that affected her childhood to the point of posttraumatic stress disorder. After returning from Santa Cruz where the event happened, they are met with “Red” doppelgangers of themselves who invade their home and hold them hostage.
The cinematography was incredible. Peele’s way with the camera surely tells us he knows exactly what he’s doing with it. It was funny – sometimes to a fault – because it inappropriately cut the tension occasionally.
But its main problem is that it wasn’t scary and that’s largely due to the fact that it wasn’t suspenseful. Remarkably, so, especially when you consider the content of it being a home invasion horror story.
Peele did a good job of limiting phony jump scares but the imagery wasn’t scary. For instance, the young boy’s doppelganger wears a white mask and crawls around and it’s not effective.
Rarely could you sit there and be genuinely terrified for the characters because you really don’t understand what they want until the end, which is a glaring flaw.
The overall theme of Us is “we are our own worst enemy.” There are others like the doppelgangers representing the forgotten lower class and if we’re not careful then there may be an uprising. Also, we learn the daughter character gives up on her dream of becoming a track star, bewildering the parents, and the point here being that those who aren’t privilege don’t have that luxury to just give up.
When you find out what the doppelgangers are it’s insanely heavy-handed; other moments being when she says “we’re AMERICANS” and there’s a Hands Across America moment that makes you roll your eyes.
Again, it wasn’t bad by any stretch of the imagination. It was just good and that’s disappointing by one of the best up-and-coming directors.