By Alex Maxwell
This March’s expected blockbuster “Us”, directed by award winning writer-director and celebrated comedian Jordan Peele, promised to terrify audiences into not wanting to look into the mirror ever again.
It got halfway there.
The highly anticipated film had big shoes to fill, as it is following in the footsteps of Academy Award winner “Get Out”. In the trailer, the pairing of a terrifying soundtrack, created by Michael Abels, and notable actors such as Lupita Nyong’o and Winston Duke from “Black Panther” made hearts race and viewers jump.
The first fifteen minutes had great atmosphere and mirrored the same feeling of dread that the trailer instilled in me when I had first watched it, and then it kind of just fell apart.
The homicidal doppelgangers appeared more creepy in the trailers than they did overall in the film. At some points during the movie the way they behaved was more comedic than scary, and the musical score was practically rendered inept in its attempt to keep the genre of the movie horror.
In contrast, Lupita Nyong’o and Winston Duke gave a memorable performance as husband and wife. Winston’s character, Gabe Wilson, is an honest to God treat and I’m elated they didn’t kill him off. Nyong’os’ character, Adelaide Wilson is a more complex and is the main catalyst for why this plot exists in the first place.
The only way I could describe the plot is to say that it feels incomplete. There are many different pieces intertwining with other distant ideas and thoughts, some were achieved while others left more to be desired. One such example is the ending, of which I can I say I understood it, but they could have easily added an extra ten to fifteen minutes explaining more of what the heck is going on.
In conclusion, “Us” wasn’t a bad movie as much as it was too many ideas contradicting each other. The trailer in some regards was a better horror movie than the actual feature length film, but it was nice dark comedy that you can wait to rent.
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