Jordan Peele: "Us" (March, 2019)

[Michael Watkins]

Freaky stuff! I'm guessing the duplicate versions are somehow from an alternative future and have come back to prevent it from happening.

to prevent what, speculatively? and how do the rabbits play into it?

[Scott Taylor]

to prevent what, speculatively? and how do the rabbits play into it?

To prevent whatever happens to them. The duplicate versions don't exactly look well to me. The rabbit room is anyone's guess, but they typically symbolize spring/rebirth so it could be that the rabbit room is some way towards restoring what was.

[Michael Watkins]

To prevent whatever happens to them. The duplicate versions don't exactly look well to me. The rabbit room is anyone's guess, but they typically symbolize spring/rebirth so it could be that the rabbit room is some way towards restoring what was.

fair enough. I see what you're going for. when I see rabbits, I think of population explosion and lab testing.

[Hypestyle]

I'd give it an A-.

The ending/epilogue-- more specifically, a twist-- is infuriating, but the overall film is well put together.

[Vworp Vworp]

I'd have to go B-, maybe even veering towards a C+.

Although maybe it would be fairer to say the film in terms of it's acting, direction, tone, all that sorta stuff is a solid A. Where it falls down is in the story... Or more specifically, the explanations. Which, as soon as you think about them, don't make a whole lot of sense at all.

In general, I'm not really someone who nitpicks plot holes and implausible events in movies. Most of the of stuff you might see in a CinemaSins video doesn't bother me in the slightest, as long as a film is entertaining. But this movie had even me sitting in the cinema thinking "But why would... ?? And how would... ??" on more than one occasion.

spoilers:

I mean, for starters, let's put aside the whole "it was a huge sort of cloning-experiment with the intention of somehow controlling everyone" plan and how it was all just abandoned (assuming the people behind it weren't all killed, but there was no evidence of that, and the doubles weren't exactly the tidying up corpses type) An even bigger question though just relates to the scale of the whole thing. So here's Red and she's the only double with the will to make decisions and all the other doubles are looking to her... And so she somehow supplies what are clearly thousands of doubles (presumably occupying bunkers and tunnels all across America) with these snazzy red coats and regulation issue murder scissors. And then fills them in on that whole holding hands plan. As for the twist, I saw that coming from the very first time Adelaide sees her double in the hall of mirrors. Maybe that's cos I've always been a fan of the Clone Saga, but it's not like the movie didn't make it kinda obvious as soon as we never saw Adelaide actually running away)

end of spoilers

All of that said, this is still a really good movie. But whilst Get Out was a film that made you think, Us is a movie where it's really best not to.

[beetee]

I'm in B/B+ range. I had figured out the main twist from the first scene, because I'm an old jaded movie buff and sci-fi/horror nerd. The explanation for events dusts off a couple of sci-fi concepts I haven't seen in awhile. Lupita Nyong'o is phenomenal.

[Sain]

Just not a fan of the ending "twist" really. It was also sprinkled with horror tropes, but otherwise an awesome film. Loved how it was shot, loved score and soundtrack, and the humor and drama worked splendidly.

[Michael Watkins]

I guessed the twist during the funhouse scene. But I really like Peele's general style and use of music to create atmosphere. I feel like he was exposed to the same movies that I was as a kid. I want to see him do an actual anthology like Creepshow. His background is skit humor. I think shorter stories might be his wheelhouse.

P.s. He clearly put himself in the film with Duke's performance.

[Michael Watkins]

I'd have to go B-, maybe even veering towards a C+.

Although maybe it would be fairer to say the film in terms of it's acting, direction, tone, all that sorta stuff is a solid A. Where it falls down is in the story... Or more specifically, the explanations. Which, as soon as you think about them, don't make a whole lot of sense at all.

In general, I'm not really someone who nitpicks plot holes and implausible events in movies. Most of the of stuff you might see in a CinemaSins video doesn't bother me in the slightest, as long as a film is entertaining. But this movie had even me sitting in the cinema thinking "But why would... ?? And how would... ??" on more than one occasion.

spoilers:

I mean, for starters, let's put aside the whole "it was a huge sort of cloning-experiment with the intention of somehow controlling everyone" plan and how it was all just abandoned (assuming the people behind it weren't all killed, but there was no evidence of that, and the doubles weren't exactly the tidying up corpses type) An even bigger question though just relates to the scale of the whole thing. So here's Red and she's the only double with the will to make decisions and all the other doubles are looking to her... And so she somehow supplies what are clearly thousands of doubles (presumably occupying bunkers and tunnels all across America) with these snazzy red coats and regulation issue murder scissors. And then fills them in on that whole holding hands plan. As for the twist, I saw that coming from the very first time Adelaide sees her double in the hall of mirrors. Maybe that's cos I've always been a fan of the Clone Saga, but it's not like the movie didn't make it kinda obvious as soon as we never saw Adelaide actually running away)

end of spoilers

All of that said, this is still a really good movie. But whilst Get Out was a film that made you think, Us is a movie where it's really best not to.

Agreed. Because Night of the Living Dead is considered to be a classic. And I can rip it apart for hours, if we want to point out lapses in logic.

[numberthirty]

While I liked the film's attention to details...

spoilers:

- See C.H.U.D. being on the shelf. - See the Black Flag continuity stashed in the Bible Verse(or is it the other way around?). - See the specific use of the cover art for the Black Flag album My War.

end of spoilers

There was a lot that you had to tune out to be able to accept the premise as something perfectly possible.

Solid, but you had to cut it a little slack.

[Midvillian1322]

Really enjoyed the movie but thought it was more worried about the making you think about the themes and message then making the actual sci-Fi parts make any real sense. Theres a lot of wtf questions in this movies premise. Like logistically speaking

[numberthirty]

One other thing that did occur to me...

While her performances is not really a huge selling point for the film, the work Elisabeth Moss did was noteworthy.

[choptop]

How did the the tethered kill so many people? They didn't seem that tough pretty sure anyone had good odds againt them much less the cops.....

[numberthirty]

How did the the tethered kill so many people? They didn't seem that tough pretty sure anyone had good odds againt them much less the cops.....

Spoilers!...

spoilers:

Seems kind of like the film was looking for a lot of suspension of disbelief/slack on that front.

end of spoilers

[Midvillian1322]

Spoilers!...

spoilers:

Seems kind of like the film was looking for a lot of suspension of disbelief/slack on that front.

end of spoilers

spoilers:

well If it all happened at once people are gonna be confused already and not expecting to just randomly get stabbed. I mean the main characters are the only ones that got toyed with seems like everyone else was too the point.. now alot of Logistics about this movie dont make sense but the tethered being able to kill people makes sense. People are soft and unexpecting. By the time everyone knows what's going on its probaly a little late. But yea I'm sure alot of people just like the main family survived. The message and metaphor took priority over the scifi details clearly. Kinda doesnt make much sense and like I said where they were getting stuff from and the idea the government just left 100s of millions of people alive underground with nothing but a escalator to keep them down there dont really make sense. How the hell did they get that many gloves and Scissors? How does she coordinate with people all across the country. How come sometimes they have to copy what the person other times they just get stabby. They don't explain alot.

end of spoilers