Director: Jordan Peele
Cast: Lupita Nyong’o, Winston Duke, Elisabeth Moss, Tim Heidecker
Have I Seen it Before: New movie. On every level.
Did I Like It: Man… If you don’t, I’m fairly sure you’re actually a (SPOILER REDACTED).
And that right there will limit this review right there. I can’t, in good conscience, go into to too much detail about the various goings on in the film. Also, there’s too much. Every moment is filled with either complicated levels of subtext or next-level cinematic skills. Also, those moments interlock together to form a tableau of misdirection, and it all comes together in the end, despite what some people might say. Jokes set up scares and scares set up jokes. Us is a well-oiled machine fo a movie.
It’s also difficult to go forward with an immediate, obvious comparison between Peele’s first film, Get Out (2017). Peele has also managed to avoid one of the more ominous elements of what could have been a sophomore curse. He is most certainly not repeating himself, despite what some of the promotional material might have you believe.
The entirety of Jordan Peele’s career is a marvel. He certainly in the running for the greatest sketch comedian of all time, inside of a week, he will claim his rightful place as the heir apparent to Rod Serling, and here in directing only two features, he has cemented himself as the greatest horror filmmaker of our times. It’d be like if Alfred Hitchcock were also Bill Murray this whole time, and without the horrible mistreatment of Tippi Hedren (so far as we know).
Some may complain that the twist ending either isn’t as satisfying as the rest of the film, or is a bit too telegraphed. They’re definitely wrong on the first part, while I may be able to allow for reasonable people the believe the latter. Even if we grant either premise, it doesn’t matter. Unlike many of M. Night Shyamalan’s films, the rest of Us is so thoroughly thrilling and satisfying that the ending is incidental.