Us

gmisk

New Jordan peele film.
Trailer looks interesting!
https://youtu.be/56Cl68ANDgc

Basq

Incredible trailer.. just the right amount of mystery around it. Jordan Peele is a talented man.

Slydice

Superbowl trailer

That scarecrow dude on the beach is the part that gets me the most so far

correction

Bumping this as it's out today, going to see it tonight myself. Loved Get Out and the reviews for this have been excellent.

RasTa

Enjoyed it, talented director I must say. I still haven't seen Get Out so will get on board asap

Lionbacker

Was rather let down by it. The explanation for the main plotline is ridiculous & there is far too many plotholes for me to enjoy it.
If its another metaphor for Black America like Get Out was, its gone completely over my head. The acting & score are grand but the film as a whole didn't do anything for me. Also, it failed to un-nerve or scare me which adds to the disappointement.

correction

Thought it was brilliant. The acting and directing were fantastic, there are plenty of plot holes but they didn't really bother me.

The scene where the white family gets murdered while Good Vibrations plays then moving onto F Tha Police as they have to come in and kill those doubles was fantastic stuff.

johnny_ultimate

In terms of Peele's filmmaking sensibilities it's a significant leap forward. I don't recall coming out of Get Out being as impressed with the visual direction as I was here. Behind perhaps only It Follows (unsurprisingly it shares a cinematographer in Mike Gioulakis) and Hereditary as one of the most visually impactful American horror films of recent times. From the willingness to allow slow, methodical shots and cutting to the eerie shots of crazed or horrified faces half obscured in deep shadow, it's great stuff. Doesn't hurt that the soundtrack and score are aces,

and that **** the Police gag is beautiful. The final shot is a killer punctuation mark.

Lupita Nyong'o is astoundingly good,

across both roles

. Does a lot of the heavy lifting in terms of it feeling like characters battling with their own hidden instincts. Elisabeth Moss is great too in her limited screentime, but it's Nyong'o's film through-and-through. Although as someone working my way through On Cinema at the moment, I loved 'tethered' Tim Heidecker too :pac:

It's unquestionably a more ambitious film than Get Out. It's grander in scale, and the ideas are trickier to nail down. There's tantalising stuff about modern class tensions - a comfortable middle class versus the neglected underclass. It seems to be about the insurmountable social & political divisions in America, both in the Reagan-era and the Trump one. It's interesting stuff, with the important caveat that it's all rather murky bar one or two moments of explicit statements of intent (

'we are American'... and the not so subtle double meaning of the title

). In some ways, that's cool - it feels like a film more open to interpretation and study, where the ideas supplement and complicate the rock-solid comedy-horror rather than defining it. In some other ways, I missed the brute force, no-nonsense approach of Get Out where it was 100% clear and delightfully in your face with what the film had to say.

If this is a film with sometimes too much to say, it also represents a major voice in mainstream American filmmaking refusing to rest on his laurels. It's a strange, ambitious (you'll see that word a lot in reviews, but it seems appropriate) and frankly often messy film. But hey, messy is sometimes the consequence of going all-in.

brianregan09

I loved it one of my favorite horror films in a long time and a nice departure from Get Out aswell more please

At the risk of sounding like an eight year old, is it really scarey
I’m a total wuss at horrors, but I loved get out. I wasn’t the best after seeing the trailer even for this

one armed dwarf

I feel the plot here was complicated to the point of interfering with getting the message across. I really like how simple the premise is in Get Out, where it just allows its themes to percolate to the surface. But here the world building just got on the way of things.

Tho tbf I never heard of the "hands across America" charity drive which seems like it was supposed to be the main clue as to what the film would be trying to say. Also I watched it with a terrible audience who would not stop shouting and giving a running commentary at the screen the whole time so paying attention was difficult.

Autecher

I liked this. It was a bit messy and a tad overlong but I still liked it. I thought

the twist was obvious too which makes me mr. smartypants for once! :P

santana75

I never really got the hype around Get out. It was an ok movie, but fairly average. I was shocked when it won the oscar for best original screenplay. But I thought this was a better film. The acting from everyone, including the kids is flawless. Its a genuinely scary film with a very sinister, foreboding atmosphere from the word go. Theres probably all sorts of allegorical undertones at work here but I didnt bother to look that deeply into it. All in all though a solid evenings entertainment.

Pissartist

It was different but in a good way, thought provoking

gmisk

Autecher wrote: »

I liked this. It was a bit messy and a tad overlong but I still liked it. I thought

the twist was obvious too which makes me mr. smartypants for once! :P

I liked it but I didn't love it.
I appreciated the effort put into it, cinematography, look and feel and definitely the acting, the kids were even great. Plus pretty cool premise, I can see director be a good fit for the twilight zone, I think he mentioned this was influenced by an episode of that show.

but yeah the twist was fairly obvious early on, it played more like a comedy than a horror, and just wasnt scary for me. Pretty clever i thought it was all an allegory for the American dream probably...hence US as the title maybe?

I'd maybe give it 7ish out of 10.
Preferred it to get out

Good article here explaining a lot of the film.
https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a26895375/us-movie-spoilers-ending-explained-tethered-jeremiah-11-11/

JP Liz V1

Lucille Uptight Court wrote: »

At the risk of sounding like an eight year old, is it really scarey
I’m a total wuss at horrors, but I loved get out. I wasn’t the best after seeing the trailer even for this

I'm the same but I think this is way more scarier

gmisk

JP Liz V1 wrote: »

I'm the same but I think this is way more scarier

I actually thought the opposite, this wasn't as scary as get out even, a lot more laughs in this undercut most of the tension.

JP Liz V1

gmisk wrote: »

I actually thought the opposite, this wasn't as scary as get out even, a lot more laughs in this undercut most of the tension.

I have not seen yet, I was only going by the trailer and some reviews

ThePott

Didn't find it scary in the slightest, Get Out was scarier and that wasn't scary either but it's clearly not going for your standard horror fare.

Overall it was not a bad film, very well crafter and some beautiful shots and moments of symmetry throughout that I think will make it very interesting on a rewatch. Some good performances and haunting visuals.

That being said I felt like it was a bit of letdown overall. I liked Get Out more than this and I thought that was a tad overrated too.

I think people will try poke holes in the film and if that's what you enjoy doing there's plenty of that but I think the film is going for more social and political commentary than a strong narrative, perfectly understand some people turning against it for those reasons but it didn't bother me on the whole as I could overlook it for some of the aspects it was going for.

It feels like a film that will be studied and analysed for a long time, you always hear the suggestion that horror reflects our society and I think to a certain degree that is clearly evident here.

The film is obviously a thesis on modern America, Us(a). The division in society and the political sides and how vitriolic it has all become and how both the left and the right demonise each other.

Essentially the idea that the 'overlooked' members of society that felt forgotten about or marginalised have now taken over and are making their voice heard. The comparison to Republicans or people who felt ignored and feel more empowered now that Trump is in office. The terrifying idea that someone might have voted in a different way and you not knowing. The mirror versions draped in Red, the Republican colour stating that We Are Americans is a little heavy handed. The thing is though neither side is really shown as glowing. The 'evil' versions were vicitims and experimented on in the context of the film while those on the surface had an almost ideal life or at least tried to keep up the appearance of the perfect life. In fact you could even argue that the evil ones were simply being opressed and took their moment to rise up and be heard again. Since in the end we discover that they were swapped we see that neither side is likely inherently evil but essentially both sides of the same coin. One stronger in body (as we see her win the final fight) and the other stronger in soul (as the replicated had no souls)

I don't know though, those are just my thoughts, I only saw this a little over an hour ago so still need some time to think about it, that hasn't even touched on any of themes of race in the movie, which there is less of than Get Out overall. Lot of other images and things to be analysed too I imagine.

I'm not the most political person but that was what I took away from the film as the meaning. There's lots of imagery too that I've thought of that suggest this theme too. Didn't like the ending though, thought it was obvious and a bit hackneyed. Found that scene towards the end with all the exposition too was a little awkward and lazy.

Probably give it a 7. If you want a scary horror film, you'll be disappointed. Very interesting to analyse but not sure, it wasn't the most gripping film even though there was some great ideas and visuals in it.

Might talk about it a bit more on my podcast this week when the dust settles a little and I can think it over some more shameless plug

biggebruv

The critics fawning over this is embarrassing imo sure it’s a good movie but it seems they are overly praising it imo just like a certain standard superhero movie that came out last year funny that.

It’s 3 out 5 for me

Shelga

Just back from it. I'm not sure if I enjoyed it or not. And when I feel like that, I think, shouldn't you be sure if you've liked a movie or not?- and if you're not sure, you probably weren't mad about it.

I just kinda felt like it was too clever for its own good. It was tonally inconsistent, same as Get Out. What other people seem to view as Jordan Peele ingeniously making several genres work at once, I'm just a bit- meh. It ends up with me just not really caring about the characters. I also felt we didn't really get much of a sense of their personalities before the mayhem started. Then, bits were just ridiculous, especially as it went on. For example,

when Red started speaking her first lines, "once upon a time there was girl" etc etc, the people in my cinema just laughed at how she instantly stopped being scary, and more like an advert for throat lozenges.

Also

when the family start arguing who has the highest kill count, my friend and I were just like "well they seem to have adapted to their new horrific reality with surprising ease"- that kind of thing just didn't really work for me.

I did like other aspects- it's imaginative and original, the production design is eerie and effective, especially

when Adelaide finally uncovers the massive underground bunkers with the rabbits everywhere, and the ballet dance cut with the fight scene

, the score and acting are great.

But, I just didn't love it. I feel like you're meant to be constantly questioning what the message is the whole time. I'd give it 6/10. The highlight was

the boat called B'Yachtch :pac:

Oh, and it really wasn't scary at all, and I'm a bit of a wuss.

correction

biggebruv wrote: »

The critics fawning over this is embarrassing imo sure it’s a good movie but it seems they are overly praising it imo just like a certain standard superhero movie that came out last year funny that.

It’s 3 out 5 for me

Mr E

Over the course of the two hours, I went from like, to dislike, to like, to dislike, to like (etc.)

I think the net rating was dislike overall.

The whole

upstairs/downstairs

stuff was paper thin and doesn't stand up to much scrutiny.

I didn't really enjoy Get Out either. I think they were both style over substance.

Lupita Nyong'o was phenomenal though.

poisonated

I thought it was ok. There are some interesting interpretations in the thread which I didn’t really notice at the time but make sense.

El Duda

Did anyone else spot what i think was a visual reference to this scene from 'The Poughkeepsie Tapes'?

Hugely disappointed by this. Visually stunning and the acting was top notch in places (Lupita Nyong'o) but by and large a fairly poor film. It wasn't scary for various reasons. The "monster" was revealed far too early. It was an action film from then on. The plot didn't make any sense anyway. Even with the final reveal, there was far too much left to explain. I found it hard to care since there was far too many plot holes. The dad was like Homer Simpson; a bit of comic relief but jarring. I hate to give out about child actors but the boy was awful. I felt I watching someone trying to act, another small thing that took me out of the experience. I walked out of Get Out thinking 9/10. I was a reinforced Jordan Peele fanboy considering I already loved his comedy. But this... he's lost a bit of credit in the bank. I can't recommend it to friends, 3/10.

El Duda

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Hugely disappointed by this. Visually stunning and the acting was top notch in places (Lupita Nyong'o) but by and large a fairly poor film. It wasn't scary for various reasons. The "monster" was revealed far too early. It was an action film from then on. The plot didn't make any sense anyway. Even with the final reveal, there was far too much left to explain. I found it hard to care since there was far too many plot holes. The dad was like Homer Simpson; a bit of comic relief but jarring. I hate to give out about child actors but the boy was awful. I felt I watching someone trying to act, another small thing that took me out of the experience. I walked out of Get Out thinking 9/10. I was a reinforced Jordan Peele fanboy considering I already loved his comedy. But this... he's lost a bit of credit in the bank. I can't recommend it to friends, 3/10.

I liked it a bit more than you but I agree with lots of your points. After the initial home invasion, it should've amped up the terror and avoided so many jokes.

Also agree about it not really making any sense. The conversation in the bedroom with the husband where she reveals her 'house of mirrors' incident just doesn't work at all in the context of the twist.

I did not see the twist in Get Out coming at all. This was easy to telegraph and it just wasn't very clever.

The strongest aspects of the film are the direction of the actors, the visual foreshadowing and general high standard of artistry. Peele has a lot of rhythm and a keen eye for creating chilling moments.

Tony EH

A VERY average film that's being vastly overrated...just like 'Get Out' really.

It's fairly entertaining, if incredibly stupid. But it's nothing to fly any flags about.

ancapailldorcha

Did anyone else miss the subtext completely? Annoyed now as it seems obvious after browsing here and Reddit.

Cinema had a few idiots who couldn't stop laughing. Other than that, I enjoyed this though the scripting issues (Kill counts? Seriously? And the twist) dampened my enjoyment of it somewhat. Get Out felt a lot more focused but this had a broader scope.

Tony EH

ancapailldorcha wrote: »

Did anyone else miss the subtext completely?

The subtext about

class

? No.

El Duda

Tony EH wrote: »

The subtext about

class

? No.

Bang on. Exactly how I read it.

Both the main family and the white family lived in relative luxury. The latter even having a modern, smart home with voice control. These are very deliberate choices as it creates a chasm between them and the lowest class of society. Here, the tethered represent the poorest people in society; The people who have to suffer abject poverty in order to allow the upper echelon to enjoy their luxury.


Seeing as this is obviously an American film, the tethered provide social commentary on the homeless/ people in the projects etc...


Not as on the nose as Get Out's social commentary but still a cool idea.

titan18

I liked it. However, there was some absolute morons in the cinema who wouldn't stop laughing or talking through it. Ruins a bit of the enjoyment of it

Conall Cernach

I saw it last night and enjoyed it well enough. It's a fairly solid 3/5.

I saw the twist coming a mile off as I'm sure everyone else did. I didn't like the premise that everyone in the USA has a clone etc. as part of some conspiracy. I would have preferred some supernatural explanation instead of attempting to rationalise it.

Fysh

I enjoyed it a lot, but as others have said

the changeling twist is waaaaaaay too obvious and signposted at the start to be treated as a twist at the end. IMO it would've worked better if we knew that Adelaide had gone into the funhouse and been traumatised, but we weren't told the details until the end.

Having said that, it had a distinctive tone and some memorable visuals and creepy moments, so it's a minor nitpick rathet than a dealbreaker for me.

El Duda

I think the guys over at RLM had a great point about

the twist. It could've been done with a simple concerned look from the Son and a cheeky grin from the Mum. They over explain it.

yerwanthere123

Just back from it, I liked it a lot. Not scary at all, not even in the slightest, but still a very good watch. As someone else alluded to above

when the clone started taking in that raspy voice it almost lost me, I found it more comic than anything else, but it won me back.

I liked the twist at the end too, which I didn't see coming. Overall I'd give it 7/10.

PhiloCypher

El Duda wrote: »

I liked it a bit more than you but I agree with lots of your points. After the initial home invasion, it should've amped up the terror and avoided so many jokes.

Also agree about it not really making any sense. The conversation in the bedroom with the husband where she reveals her 'house of mirrors' incident just doesn't work at all in the context of the twist.

I did not see the twist in Get Out coming at all. This was easy to telegraph and it just wasn't very clever.

The strongest aspects of the film are the direction of the actors, the visual foreshadowing and general high standard of artistry. Peele has a lot of rhythm and a keen eye for creating chilling moments.

The thread of dark humour, striking visuals and sound design/music in this kept me on board as the frankly bonkers concept unfolded

( the government created a tethered clone of everyone in America? .. Seriously)

. And yet.. And yet, as bonkers as it is, it still makes more sense to me then the twist in Get Out that has

an old racist couple willingly have their minds put into a black person's body and be pressed into servitude by their son

cian68

PhiloCypher wrote: »

The thread of dark humour, striking visuals and sound design/music in this kept me on board as the frankly bonkers concept unfolded

( the government created a tethered clone of everyone in America? .. Seriously)

. And yet.. And yet, as bonkers as it is, it still makes more sense to me then the twist in Get Out that has

an old racist couple willingly have their minds put into a black person's body and be pressed into servitude by their son

Get Out

They're racist in the sense that they fetishize black bodies and I think the 'servitude' is just a show to keep up the ruse when Chris is there

TerrorFirmer

Extremely enjoyable to be fair, but it's riddled with glaring plot holes, the general premise is actually fine but does not hold up to even the vaguest scrutiny and the ending.....is terribly convenient but doesn't tally at all with the general film.

It's decent, has some cool ideas and gets some of them right but I expected more, it's far more ludicrious than Get Out and that film at least tried to rationalise itself within the ridiculous confines of that movie.

'Us' doesn't do that, at all, unfortunately. I would say it's a sort of 6/10 flick, nowhere near as fresh as Get Out, but worth seeing if you liked that movie.

Mizu_Ger

Watched this last night. I deliberately avoided anything about this film, so I went in totally cold!

Enjoyed it a lot, but thought it was a little uneven.

After a great start the middle section was a "home invasion" film before getting back to a more metaphorical ending.

As for the underlying themes, the one that struck me most was

that people were being attacked by creatures who looked like themselves. Almost like society (particularly in America) is now scared of who lives next door and paranoid to the point that anyone, even oneself, is a possible threat

.

But I think there's a lot of themes that could be take from this. It should hold up to repeat viewings.

corpusvile

I much preferred Get Out. I thought Us had a very interesting premise but so-so execution & overall it didn't fully make logical sense. I didn't mind it overall but felt it coulda been better.

AllForIt

I though this movie got off to a great start but then halfway through it turned into slapstick horror.

Plus I twigged the twist to some degree but maybe just because I read there was one and maybe it was obvious anyway.

Worth watching overall but not the classic I though it was going to be.

ziedth

I watched this the other night. I thought it was a solid 3/5. As mentioned above it reminds a little of Black Panther in that it seems to be getting allot of Undue praise. The twist again as mentioned was so obvious but I do wonder if it was not really meant to be a twist originally and they tried to make it one in the edit.

I thought the daughter was quite good in it and worth keep in eye on. I had a genuine LOL (which is rare for me watching a film at home alone) when they were arguing over the kill count.

dubstepper

Watched this last night on Netflix.

It starts well and the first act with the childhood setup delivers some good scares. However the final part of the movie is really poor. The plot has more holes than a lump of swiss cheese.

I think in trying to make a horror movie which is a commentary about the divides in society we ended up with something which misses the mark for both.

The whole government clone thing was so half baked as to make no sense. I found it laughable. The plot twist at least made sense within the universe it created.

I'm not sure whether it is deliberate but the white couple were about as 2 dimensional as you could get. Just like a stereotype. Vacuous, empty consumers with no redeeming points. Why would the couple be friends with them? Perhaps that was deliberate.

I could not go higher than 6/10.

2smiggy

will watch again seeing as it's on Netflix