Us (****)

Jordan Peele surprised many with his genre-bending debut Get Out, that racial-horror-comedy-satire movie that won over audiences & critics (and the Oscar for Original Screenplay). Here is the true test of a debut filmmaker: the sequel. I will admit I went into Us rather excited, engaged by the premise and thrilled for the cast. What kind of movie is this? For one, it's no Get Out. I think that works as a pro and a con. Let me dive in a little.

The film's most suspenseful sequence comes in the opening moments when a young Adelaide (the adult form played by Lupita N'yongo) wanders off from her parents at a carnival and stumbles into a maze of mirrors, culminating with not a jump scare, but a hard cut to our opening credits complete with an eerie score. It's quite the setup. 30 years later, we reunite with our heroine along with her husband (Winston Duke) and their two kids. They're returning to the same beach town where the film opened - a town that has left Adelaide wracked with fear and confusion.

If you've seen the trailers then you get the idea: one night at their secluded cabin, the family is stalked and tormented by a group of dopplegangers ("they're us...") who break into their house in red jumpsuits and brandish large gold scissors as their weapons of choice. The "other" family (characters come to be called "tethered) are mostly animalistic, grunting and screaming, but Adelaide's other (called Red) has a worn voice that feels more like a creaky door than a human. Credit to N'yongo for the creation (which some have criticized for her source of inspiration on the voice. Google it.... It's not the biggest deal).

It becomes a cat and mouse game in which we begin to wonder "will the family escape?" "where did the tethered people come from?" and "how will it end?" Well, as the story progresses, it becomes more and more clear that Jordan Peele is taking us deep down a different rabbit hole (complete with rabbits even) and that our perceptions of this film are a far cry from the story actually being told. Where I assumed this would be set in one house, with 4 actors, etc., we instead journey out into the town that is ravaged by these jumpsuit-clad murderers, all of whom bear resemblance to another person in the town - hell, maybe the world?

The story began to waver for me despite its brilliant set up and scenes of pure suspense ("there's a family in our driveway..."). Where I might have appreciated the film in that secluded setting (ala "The Birds" or "Night of the Living Dead") it began to explore more grand themes that ultimately left me puzzled and wondering whether or not I as an audience member missed out on key plot details. The final shot will leave many asking questions as to what comes next... I myself could see the symbolism at work but still wondered "what the hell is going on" in the final scenes. There's a sort of twist that alters the plot we just saw in an M Night Shyamalan-inspired reveal, but even that raised more questions as to the film's overall validity... I'm not sure if this climax holds up on repeat viewing... This leads me to my final point: I need to watch the movie again.

Peele is clearly a talent behind the lens. His shot compositions and style is quickly becoming his own. Between his two films, I understand his perspective, and I further acknowledge that he is very skilled in all aspects of his work. The person most deserving of praise is Lupita N'yongo, who easily tops her Oscar-winning performance in 12 Years A Slave and seems poised to repeat Toni Collette's snub at last year's Oscars for "best performance in a horror movie the Academy refuses to acknowledge." In every scene we sense her torment, and Red (the antagonist) is so readily iconic for her wide eyes and haunting voice. Bravo! The rest of the family is also great, though slight criticisms could be pointed out for the evil children who perform menace by cocking their heads and bearing wide-eyed smiles... We get it, that's what creepy people do. I don't know if it really works.

I don't often try to read other reviews about films, but here I felt compelled to find people discussing spoilers and symbolisms and whatnot. I feel like the last third of the film just slipped in one ear and quickly was lost on me. The opening shot (a commercial for "Hands Across America") follows through in the rest of the story. What does it all mean? Maybe I was in the wrong headspace. I know many people will go to this film for the scares and nothing more. I'm sure they will have a good time. I just know that Jordan Peele is too smart to make a film that is so superficial. There's a lot more than meets the eye.