By: Dylan Frazier
Email: frazierd@findlay.edu
Jordan Peele’s newest movie, Us, hit theaters and he proved once again he knows how to make a horror film. While the message of the movie may not be as heavy-handed as Get Out was, the point of the movie still is deep in purpose and was a fantastic movie.
It starts out with Adelaide (Lupita Nyong’o) as a little girl at the Santa Cruz beach in 1986. She then begins to wander off without her parent’s knowledge. She soon finds herself in a mirror maze where she meets someone who looks exactly like her and it cuts to black. We then witness a time jump to present day. I don’t want to say any more about the plot of this movie because it is very easy to spoil.
My only real issue with the movie, and it isn’t that major at all, was that it was not nearly as scary as I initially anticipated. This could have been my fault because I hyped it up as the scariest movie of all time. It was scary don’t get me wrong, but it is much more as a psychological thriller than it is a horror film. This did not take away from the movie, but it just kind of surprised me.
Even with that minor issue, it was still an incredible movie with some great acting. The stand-out performance being Lupita Nyong’o, she was incredible. To see her play two characters and do them both well was nothing short of amazing. She played Adelaide and the she played Red, both of which who are polar opposites of each other. I can’t get over how hard it must have been to play those two characters who were nothing alike, but made it look so easy. Any accolade she may win for this movie is well-deserved.
For all of the great acting in this movie, the direction that Jordan Peele went with the film was by far the most impressive thing about Us. His use of symbolism throughout the movie was something that made the movie as great as it was. It seemed to me that everything in this movie was placed or done in a certain way to get people talking about the movie. There were a lot of reoccurring themes in the movie that are very important in the end. I don’t want to spoil what the symbols and the easter eggs but everything he put in this movie served a purpose, even down to the music selection.
Overall, this was probably my favorite movie I have seen so far this year. The genre of horror is very hit or miss for me but when those movies hit, they are truly pieces of art. I was so impressed with what Peele did with this movie. It’s still weird to think that the same person from Key and Peele is the same person who made two of the most universally loved horror films in the last 10 years. Peele said his goal for this movie was to get people talking about it and he definetly succeeded in do that.