Us

(spoilers!)

When I first saw Get Out I liked it a lot but it oddly didn't make a huge impression on me. Howeve,r recently I rewatched the film again and then again and upon subsequent viewings my mind was blown by how clever and intricate the script is. Every moment, every shot, every line has a purpose and pretty much everything that happens in the movie obeys the logic of the universe the film is set in. It's one of the most brilliant scripts I've ever seen unfold on the sceen. The more you think about Get Out, the more you like it. Unfortunately, it's the opposite with Us.

There's a lot of people saying that we shouldn't analyze it too much and that we should give Peele a pass but this is not something I am going to do here. I am not gonna give him a pass for this lazy script.  When you go for metaphors you also have to make sure the film works as a regular story. That the internal logic of the events is intact. The story presented in Us collapses under any kind scrutiny when with Get Out you really had to try and find the holes in the story - I think the only one is the fact that Rose lured so many black guys and the cops weren't knocking on Armitages' doors. Surely someone would connect the dots and say "hey, this chick dates them and then they disappear". With Us the whole set up is truly nonsensical. It's like we are watching the first draft of the script play out.

The whole idea of underground society that mimics the above world is cool but it's extremely half-baked. What if someone boarded a plane and flew to another part of the county? How would the clone get there? What about nutrition? They couldn't possibly live off rabbits. And what about hygiene and all of that? The tunnels looked clean but Peele still inserted the exposition dump from Red who claims the experiment is abandoned. He should have either let it be and not explain anything or provided a better explanation. Having things done in the middle didn't work at all.

Then there is the very set up of the movie and its final twist which also makes no sense. How was Adelaide's clone the only one who ever wandered off to the exit? And why didn't real Adelaide go back up after she freed herself? I'm sure you can come up with some forced explanations but here's the thing - you shouldn't have to. Then there is a whole bunch of stuff that's not well established and leads people to have the weirdest theories. Some people actually thought Jason is a clone too because he could control his doppelganger. It seemed clear to me the only reason he could was because his doppelganger was the youngest and most feral.
Then there's the issue with marketing. I haven't seen the trailers for Get Out but I heard they spoil the entire film. It's also the case with Us. Two major developments - Kitty having a doppelganger herself and the clone choking real Adelaide are spoiled there. If you saw the trailer, you saw the twist. I am however astonished by how many people claim the twist is nonsensical when the twist was crucial to the story.

In spite of some unnecessary and bizarre ramblings from Red about her and Adelaide's clone being 'special', the story here is actually very simple and elegant. The clone was special in a sense that it had the desire of replacing the real Adelaide. And real Adelaide being trapped there was the only way this story could have worked. Red is the only one who can speak. She is the only one who knows what the clones are being denied. That is her whole motivation for starting the revolution. Her revenge. Her monologue after they break into the house is heartbreaking when you realize the truth - she had to endure rape and suffering when the impostor was experiencing joy above the surface.
It also adds to the character of clone Adelaide. We cannot exactly think of her as evil in the end. Yes, she has done horrible things. But we also saw her as loving and protective mother. The twist adds dimension to both characters. There are also very clever hints that the Adelaide we think is real isn't. When she comes back she doesn't speak (because she doesn't know how to). When her family eats junk food she eats strawberries, grateful for the life she has. When she kills she starts making savage noises, that aren't quite human.

Also it's very clear clone Adelaide remembers what she has done. She knows why they are there. She doesn't need to ask questions. She feels sympathy for the children. And when she descends to the facility she knows exactly where to go.
The film is very clearly a commentary about the class system, poverty and privilege. The twist also drives the point of  the story home - that we are shaped by our circumstances and we all come into this world the same. It's what around us and what opportunities are given to us that shapes us. Still, there is some stuff that for a viewer from outside of USA was so on the nose it was embarrassing, like poor Nyong'o being forced to utter groan-inducing "we are Americans". And of course the end of the movie which seemed to me like it was hinting at the wall around Mexico Trump wants to built. OK? And? Also the similarity to The Invitation's ending doesn't do Us any favors because The Invitation was a much better written movie than this is. Also, yes it is USA. And no one shoots those doppelgangers? Really? Come on.

Still, for all of its shortcomings Us has some true brilliance in its script most evident in the handling of the characters of Kitty and her doppelganger. Kitty is shallow and vain and her doppelganger associates beauty with pain - given how Kitty decided to have procedures to look better. So we are treated to extremely unnerving sequence where Elizabeth Moss shines as the silent doppelganger who, after lifetime of mimicking putting on a lip gloss, actually gets to put on a real lip gloss this time. And then she takes scissors to her face, in the film's most disturbing moment. There's also a terrific character moment when she lets out silent scream as her husband doppelganger dies. Then she laughs because she always resented him.
The whole sequence at their house is the highlight of the film. It's very disturbing and the twins are probably the scariest characters in the film (there's a brilliant visual reference to The Shining here also those girls used to play Rachel and Ross' daughter on Friends). The sounds the doppelgangers make are so creepy and the film is easily more scary than Get Out. Red's voice and her movements are the stuff of nightmares and the fact that she is given such a heart breaking backstory makes her character even more unforgettable. The costumes the tethered wear are inspired by Michael Jackson's "Thriller" and the whole plan ends with recreating Hands Across America gesture - the last pop culture reference Adelaide remembers from the real world. Now that is really clever. After all the whole rebellion was planned by an unhinged woman who spent her life in isolation, traumatized.

There are a lot of reviewers saying that this movie is funnier than Get Out and that's simply not true. Get Out had so much humour there and laugh out loud moments provided by brilliant Lil Rel Howery as the protagonist's friend. His scenes were separate from the rest of the story, so the hilarious tone of those didn't interfere with tension because the character was in a different setting. That is a big problem here. Lupita Nyong'o delivers two performances as is she was in a very serious movie. Winston Duke, as delightful as he is, acts as if he was in horror parody and in numerous moments so do the actors who play the couple's children. The result is that nearly every tense moment have some sort of joke in it and you don't really buy that, other than Adelaide, these are the people who are worried about their life and the lives of their loved ones.
Thankfully while the script and tone are not the movie's strengths everything else is superb. The cinematography is truly brilliant and the film does the best thing a horror can do - much like last year's chilling Hereditary whenever there is something creepy in the shot you have to notice it yourself, the camera won't zoom in and there won't be a sound signalling something is off. This makes the whole movie so much more unnerving. There's also a stunning split diopter shot in the movie.

Michael Abels who provided the chilling score for Get Out does an even better job here. From the fantastic track accompanying the opening credits through the awesome music used during the tense scenes o the terrific cover of "I Got 5 on it" that plays during the pivotal scene the music is one of the greatest soundtracks in horror movies in recent years.
Nyong'o is the star of the movie and delivers a wonderful performance, especially as Red. Still, for all the praise she is receiving I still found Toni Collette's work in last year's Hereditary far superior and impressive than this. Nyong'o protagonist is pretty standard horror movie heroine. It's as Red that she is truly brilliant and I have no doubt that this character will be the most memorable thing about this movie.

Overall, Us is unfortunately a disappointment and hopefully only a temporary lack of form for Peele as a writer. The story is so lazy and I expected much more from him. His Twilight Zone reboot premiers next week and I really hope this one will prove that Get Out wasn't just the exception and he is capable of providing more brilliantly written stories.
77/100
Us (2019, USA, 116 min)
Plot: A family's serenity turns to chaos when a group of doppelgängers begins to terrorize them.
Director: Jordan Peele
Writer: Jordan Peele
Stars: Lupita Nyong'o, Winston Duke, Elisabeth Moss