Us

For the first three quarters, the second film of Jordan Peele gave me a “fuller” horror experience than his début Get Out. It has first-rate craftsmanship, a brilliant premise, excellent performances led by Lupita Nyongo, and the humour is better incorporated and not intruding. Us was about to get an enthusiastic five-star rating, especially with the social overlap about some kind of uprising of those less fortunate than us being very topical, but unfortunately, it derails by the end. The closing mythological explanation either shouldn’t have been there (so that the doubles worked on a purely allegorical level), or it should have been more bulletproof, because the way it’s presented makes you poke into several practical details of the working of the world of the doubles, which is a road to hell. And the very last twist is even more confusing. Immediately after the screening, I’m not sure whether it didn’t unintendedly make the film lose its meaning. At the same time, I’m looking forward to watching it again in the future and, already knowing the twists, see if it makes sense or not. In any case, Us does provide plenty of material for an “autopsy” and I’m sure it’ll remain in my head for awhile, which is appreciated. (03/26/2019)

An overly calculated and sure-footed Oscar-winning film that ticks off the likely situations to come, and they do come, including the pathetic ending. But the dialogues between Tony and Shirley are hilariously written, there's a great spark between them and I laughed my heart out at times. Viggo plays my peer, always eating like me, getting a pot belly like me, just cute. I'd like him to win an Oscar, more than Rami "look-at-my-brutal-attempt" Malek, and more than Ali, who to me is an actor of one expression. (07/29/2019)

I can´t shake the feeling that Peele originally intended it to be a pilot episode of Sterling's cult (and crucial for “peripheral" genres) The Twilight Zone, which will be soon reincarnated. And it would have made a fantastic pilot which would have proven that Peele can pay tributes to the models/originals, keep the spirit and ideas of the original and still make the movie up to date and specific in his unique manner. But it should have been a pilot with a 60-minute footage, not a two-hour movie. Even though Peele is such a good director and has really actors at hand, the essence is so high-quality (it works both as a relaxed genre movie and as a satire) and on top of that, he can take advantage of brilliant Abels and he is not afraid to use him properly, so you won´t be become bored of it, not for a moment. In fact, you will feel quite the opposite. However, I cannot get rid of the feeling that it is an “excellent short story but slightly worse feature film". (03/26/2019)

It goes by quickly without getting boring, Peele delivers a very original concept that plays with our expectations, but unfortunately, this incomprehensible genre hodgepodge can’t never fully satisfy its ambitions of social comedy-horror. Get Out was solidly built on paranoia and the humour worked like an almost welcome relief, Us is packed with ideas, jokes and wannabe shocking twists, but it doesn’t give the viewer a chance to comfortably get into the story and enjoy the concept or feel scared. And no, I don’t think the experience can improve with a rewatch. 60% (04/03/2019)

With this grotesquely warped horror movie reminiscent of The Twilight Zone, Jordan Peele has confirmed his position as an illustrious talent in the field of genre films. In Us, those who are so inclined can see a provocative parallel to the basic principle of capitalism, i.e. the presumed right to privilege and living life at the expense of someone else, which brings out the dark side of people. At the same time, however, it is simply a great, original horror flick that is not satisfied with the superficial tricks with which most current contributions to the genre are inundated. (04/01/2019)