Jordan Peele’’s 'Us'

[MadVillainy]

It's almost like you.....you can still have box office success with original ideas.........

I don't think anyone disputed that. There are plenty of successful movies (success being relative) that are "original ideas" that are released

 

[flickchick85]

Just saw it. I liked it, but not as much as Get Out. Would've been better off without the sci-fi elements that open it up to a lot more logic holes, imo. And yeah, saw the twist coming a mile away. Still, Lupita was amazing, it was entertaining all the way through, and I thought the metaphor/social commentary landed pretty well.

 

[jmc]

I don't think anyone disputed that. There are plenty of successful movies (success being relative) that are "original ideas" that are released

Most aren't given the marketing push like this one.

 

[Heretic]

Honestly, the more I think about

Spoiler

the explanation that there was a government program etc

the more it bothers me.

Spoiler

I didnt need an answer to who the Tethered were. I'm fine with it just freaking being a thing that happened. And the explanation really just opened up a bunch of questions that I didn't want to ask and I doubt has any good answers. Why didn't the little girl ever leave? She did know how to get out. In fact...SOMEONE had to leave to go buy all of those scissors and gloves etc...so...how did she get that money? Did she leave every day to go to a job? Leaving the whole thing a mystery means we have no specific questions to ask...but giving us an explanation means that we deserve to understand how this scenario played out. If they had merely edited that one scene to exclude it, I think this would rank as one of my all time favorites. Instead, I'm barely even contemplating the social message of the film and am instead focusing on nonsense.

 

[Mysteryman]

I haven't seen the film yet.
But I just had to give it mega props for it's box office success.
That was one heck of a haul.
Impressive.

 

[jolldan]

Was a short review since I was on my phone when I posted it, some thoughts after sleeping on it.

The Good

• Lupita was the star by a mile and thats not a slight against her other cast members just a credit to how good she was. Her portrayal of her and the tethered version of her were so different it was a great performance.
• Winston Duke had some really funny comedic moments that weren't super easy to predict which I liked.
• Need to give a shout out to the young version of Lupita's character, with very few lines she conveyed a child's terror and her own terrifying persona both brilliantly.
• The two kids were also great, especially the daughter when she was playing the tethered version.

The Bad

• This may just be being picky but it really annoyed me how what is the most heavily armed nation on Earth is brought to its knee's by people with scissors, I mean really? Seriously other than the Wilson family's body count I don't think we see one other dead tethered the whole movie.
• When did the tethered stop having do to as their counterparts did? They show they copying the actions of people in the fair but we never see or understand how they stop having to do this and can act on their own.
• How was Jason the only one who seemed to maintain control over his alter?
• Why didn't Adelaide's character just leave after the switch? I know she was handcuffed but we know she eventually got out.
• The ballet scene? When Red is talking about the moment they knew they were connected with this scene I just didn't get it, if it was meant to have any weight to it was lost on me.
• Why did Elisabeth Moss's alter start carving at her own face?
• Hands Across America. This Im sorry I don't care if there's a message im not getting but I thought this part of the story was complete hot garbage. Was sitting watching that bit thinking "Yes could the murderess doppelgängers all stand in a line so we can mow you all down as efficiently as possible"
• What was the plan? There seemed to be no end game for the alters after there initial murder spree, so what you're just gonna kill thousands maybe millions of people and then stand together in a line till we die of starvation? I don't know if we were meant to take it as a child like plan since she was switched as a child but it just didn't make sense to me..

I think my main gripe with this movie other than the third act is for all the questions it opened up it never gave us near enough answers.

 

[MadVillainy]

Most aren't given the marketing push like this one.

So? Who cares? There are still successful original movies. The myth that there isn't is just something that people who are feeling pretentious like to complain about.

I saw Edgar Wright say the same thing word for word from what you said on Twitter. Which is weird considering Baby Driver

 

[Boy Scout]

Honestly, the more I think about

Spoiler

the explanation that there was a government program etc

the more it bothers me.

Spoiler

I didnt need an answer to who the Tethered were. I'm fine with it just freaking being a thing that happened. And the explanation really just opened up a bunch of questions that I didn't want to ask and I doubt has any good answers. Why didn't the little girl ever leave? She did know how to get out. In fact...SOMEONE had to leave to go buy all of those scissors and gloves etc...so...how did she get that money? Did she leave every day to go to a job? Leaving the whole thing a mystery means we have no specific questions to ask...but giving us an explanation means that we deserve to understand how this scenario played out. If they had merely edited that one scene to exclude it, I think this would rank as one of my all time favorites. Instead, I'm barely even contemplating the social message of the film and am instead focusing on nonsense.

Same here. I’ve been thinking about the movie since Sunday, and it’s bugged me more and more the more I’ve thought about it. I wish that part had been edited out.

 

[Heretic]

Same here. I’ve been thinking about the movie since Sunday, and it’s bugged me more and more the more I’ve thought about it. I wish that part had been edited out.

Like...think about The Twilight Zone. How did those people end up inside a child's toy train set? How did that boy have the power to blink people out of existence? How can wearing a party mask change your face? You know what...deal with it. The world was fine and then got Twilight Zoned. And we accepted that. But if you are going to explain it...and then the explanation needs a bunch more explaining that we dont get in order to make sense...then we are in a worse spot than if we got no explanation at all.

And as I and others have mentioned before...the social commentary aspect is MORE profound if we get no explanation, because then we as viewers wouldnt be able to separate ourselves from this other version of "us."

 

[Boy Scout]

Like...think about The Twilight Zone. How did those people end up inside a child's toy train set? How did that boy have the power to blink people out of existence? How can wearing a party mask change your face? You know what...deal with it. The world was fine and then got Twilight Zoned. And we accepted that. But if you are going to explain it...and then the explanation needs a bunch more explaining that we dont get in order to make sense...then we are in a worse spot than if we got no explanation at all.

And as I and others have mentioned before...the social commentary aspect is MORE profound if we get no explanation, because then we as viewers wouldnt be able to separate ourselves from this other version of "us."

On top of that, I think horror movies are generally scarier when there’s little to no explanation for the scary **** that’s happening.

 

[DeadStroke]

Honestly, the more I think about

Spoiler

the explanation that there was a government program etc

the more it bothers me.

Spoiler

I didnt need an answer to who the Tethered were. I'm fine with it just freaking being a thing that happened. And the explanation really just opened up a bunch of questions that I didn't want to ask and I doubt has any good answers. Why didn't the little girl ever leave? She did know how to get out. In fact...SOMEONE had to leave to go buy all of those scissors and gloves etc...so...how did she get that money? Did she leave every day to go to a job? Leaving the whole thing a mystery means we have no specific questions to ask...but giving us an explanation means that we deserve to understand how this scenario played out. If they had merely edited that one scene to exclude it, I think this would rank as one of my all time favorites. Instead, I'm barely even contemplating the social message of the film and am instead focusing on nonsense.

Same here. I’ve been thinking about the movie since Sunday, and it’s bugged me more and more the more I’ve thought about it. I wish that part had been edited out.

Like...think about The Twilight Zone. How did those people end up inside a child's toy train set? How did that boy have the power to blink people out of existence? How can wearing a party mask change your face? You know what...deal with it. The world was fine and then got Twilight Zoned. And we accepted that. But if you are going to explain it...and then the explanation needs a bunch more explaining that we dont get in order to make sense...then we are in a worse spot than if we got no explanation at all.

And as I and others have mentioned before...the social commentary aspect is MORE profound if we get no explanation, because then we as viewers wouldnt be able to separate ourselves from this other version of "us."

I'm going to say this one more time...

You guys do realize that was just speculation right? Its like Will Byers of Strangers Things knowing the origins of The Upside Down

*haven't seen 2nd season so forgive me if it does, lol*

There are things we were shown and things we were not shown.

Exactly how a certain character was explaining a situation earlier in the movie and they never showed it. They're not reliable.


Could it be right? Sure. However, that was just speculation.

 

[Hurm...]

Really? not lazy?

Spoiler

1. What happens to the clone when a real person flies from point A to point B?
2. How do the clones not die of disease or child birth?
3. Why are the tunnels so clean if the experiment is 'abandonded'?
4. Why have Red speculate it was abandoned and not just leave it be without explanation to avoid plot holes?
5. Why would a government just abandon this experiment without getting rid of the clones?
6. Why wasn't the entry to the tunnels guarded?
7. How come this clone was the only one to managed to get out? There was just one power failure in 30 years?
8. Real Adelaide didn't find a way out for 30 years?
9. Why don't the authorities just shoot the clones doing the Hand Across the America thing?

Then you have a whole bunch of people writing weird theories like Jason is a clone even tho it makes no damn sense just because they didn't get the youngest clone was the most feral/most prone to copying. The script is a damn mess

those just off the top of my head. That's about all the time I am willing to spend tying to make sense of this. You have dozens of people online confused not because this is brilliant but because it is filled with gaping holes, inconsistencies and leaps of faith.

Totally agree with you.

Even the reactions of characters to these doppelgangers and being completely at ease with murdering in such a joke-y manner took me out of the movie. It has a very weird balance between reality (N'Yongo's compelling performance grounds many scenes) and some cartoon-ish world. There's some very odd tonal choices in this movie.

 

[DeadStroke]

Really? not lazy?

Spoiler

1. What happens to the clone when a real person flies from point A to point B?
2. How do the clones not die of disease or child birth?
3. Why are the tunnels so clean if the experiment is 'abandonded'?
4. Why have Red speculate it was abandoned and not just leave it be without explanation to avoid plot holes?
5. Why would a government just abandon this experiment without getting rid of the clones?
6. Why wasn't the entry to the tunnels guarded?
7. How come this clone was the only one to managed to get out? There was just one power failure in 30 years?
8. Real Adelaide didn't find a way out for 30 years?
9. Why don't the authorities just shoot the clones doing the Hand Across the America thing?

Then you have a whole bunch of people writing weird theories like Jason is a clone even tho it makes no damn sense just because they didn't get the youngest clone was the most feral/most prone to copying. The script is a damn mess

those just off the top of my head. That's about all the time I am willing to spend tying to make sense of this. You have dozens of people online confused not because this is brilliant but because it is filled with gaping holes, inconsistencies and leaps of faith.

Spoiler

1.The same thing that happens when they are on a roller coaster. They just react to it and carry on.
2. Whose to say some clones dont actively shut down once that happens? Thats a lore question that can be explored and not needing an answer right now.
3. MIchael Myers drove a car in Halloween, we're worried about the space not being filthy? Thats not a major hang up for me.
4. Because speculation is what leads Red to follow through on HER plan. Her reasoning for what happened doesn't make it so...
5 and 6 are again replying to someone's speculation. No point in answering what isn't concrete.
7. She mentioned that they just had a connection that brought them together.There was just something special about them.
8. Who says it took her 30 years to get out? She was kidnapped as a 7 or 8 year old and the traumatic experience is what kept her there. Her father even mocked about how could she get trauma in such a short time. He said that in reference to the doppleganger, but really it was happening to his daughter. It wasn't until she was 14 that she realized she could cut free. However, the others tethers turned to her like a messiah and so she begin planning for 27 years or so. Maybe with all that planning they decided to clean up as well? heh
9. Well I'm not sure police would mow down people standing in a line on tv...at least not right away. Whose to say the cops don't shooting certain segments of the line? We cut away from the original broadcast and the very last shot showed cops getting there to the line with people in the woods

 

[Kev4000]

The Bad

• This may just be being picky but it really annoyed me how what is the most heavily armed nation on Earth is brought to its knee's by people with scissors, I mean really? Seriously other than the Wilson family's body count I don't think we see one other dead tethered the whole movie.
• How was Jason the only one who seemed to maintain control over his alter?
• The ballet scene? When Red is talking about the moment they knew they were connected with this scene I just didn't get it, if it was meant to have any weight to it was lost on me.
• Why did Elisabeth Moss's alter start carving at her own face?

I think my main gripe with this movie other than the third act is for all the questions it opened up it never gave us near enough answers.

For me that whole movie is About how human character and behaviour is determinated by your circumstances, most important how much many you have. There is the Family who can buy a random boat and the Family who dont have Money to join the roller Coaster so they do other Things to have fun. From my perspective:

- Scissors have 2 blades, Maybe a symbolism.
- Jason was the only one because he was the youngest of them and in consequence nearest to his doppelganger.
- Red had Talent because she had the ballet lessons. That was original Entertainment. Adalaine was the one who coudnt do that. It was perfectly shown in the fight between These two.
- Moss Carving because her alter ego likes Chirurgy on her face too.

 

[Boy Scout]

I'm going to say this one more time...

Thanks, but I understood you perfectly the first time.

Could it be right? Sure. However, that was just speculation.

And yet that’s the only bit of speculation to which the audience is exposed. There are no counter arguments, counterpoints, or counter theories that are entertained in any way. There is no dispute, no doubt, no challenge to prove that theory with facts. So even with Red being an unreliable narrator, for the intents and purposes of the movie, what she explained to us is as good as true.

 

[jmc]

So? Who cares? There are still successful original movies. The myth that there isn't is just something that people who are feeling pretentious like to complain about.

I saw Edgar Wright say the same thing word for word from what you said on Twitter. Which is weird considering Baby Driver

My point being, if you put a little more marketing effort into original ideas, like this one, the chances of box office success, like this one, are more likely, and lets be honest, studios don't exactly invest a lot of marketing into new ideas.

 

[Kane52630]

Jordan Peele on Making Movies After 'Us': "I Don't See Myself Casting a White Dude as the Lead"

 

[Closerframe]

After letting it sit for a few days in my head and watching some theory videos on YouTube, I can conclude I enjoyed this more than Get Out.

I initially thought the lack of context for why the government seemingly abandoned the "clone" project and the twist that was obvious from a million miles is something reminiscent of a Twilight Zone episode or every traditional horror film of the 80s. There aren't explanations for the supernatural elements of classic films like A Nightmare on Elm Street, Halloween, Friday the 13th, and Halloween. We merely accept these killers and the lack of logic in their ability to do things that are illogical. Why should that be any different for Us? We don't need an explanation for the doppelgangers or Red's plan for Hands Across America in my mind.

 

[Heretic]

I'm going to say this one more time...

You guys do realize that was just speculation right? Its like Will Byers of Strangers Things knowing the origins of The Upside Down

*haven't seen 2nd season so forgive me if it does, lol*

There are things we were shown and things we were not shown.

Exactly how a certain character was explaining a situation earlier in the movie and they never showed it. They're not reliable.


Could it be right? Sure. However, that was just speculation.

The movie does not communicate this as a "maybe it happened" scenario. It says that it happened. I see no reason to doubt the "narrator."

 

[Ninjablade]

I saw this over the weekend with a friend. We both had fun watching it, but I think that's mostly because the crowd was really into it during the first two thirds. That said, even during the film both of us couldn't help but point out a lot of the of the logical inconsistencies in the film as well as some weird tonal choices. The script needed another redraft or something.

Spoiler

The biggest thing that stands out to me is the real Adaline's "explanation" of how things works. That scene really just raises too many questions as to how these clones operate and what is their purpose. It felt like trying to have your cake and eat it too. You explain some things, but leave it mostly ambiguous. It doesn't work

Even the reactions of characters to these doppelgangers and being completely at ease with murdering in such a joke-y manner took me out of the movie. It has a very weird balance between reality (N'Yongo's compelling performance grounds many scenes) and some cartoon-ish world. There's some very odd tonal choices in this movie.

I agree with this. My friend and I were very confused about the tone the film was trying to create, and at one point we were trying to figure out if the film was almost trying to be ironic and make fun horror movies.

 

[DeadStroke]

The movie does not communicate this as a "maybe it happened" scenario. It says that it happened. I see no reason to doubt the "narrator."

No the movie didn't. THAT character was never there or apart of those happenings. Thats just an assumption of what THAT character assumed had happened? Could it have? Maybe. However, why are we taking that assumption as fact?

 

[Heretic]

No the movie didn't. THAT character was never there or apart of those happenings. Thats just an assumption of what THAT character assumed had happened? Could it have? Maybe. However, why are we taking that assumption as fact?

I'm aware that she wasn't there for the actual stuff. But she just made this all up in her head? Why? Again...she COULD have left...so, on a baseless hunch she decided to join them and kill the world she knew? I assume that there was some sort of evidence left behind that explained some of this stuff to her. If they explained something INCORRECTLY, then that might even be WORSE, since...again...its not like they actually gave us any reason to think that she might be wrong. It's not like some other option was offered.

 

[DeadStroke]

I'm aware that she wasn't there for the actual stuff. But she just made this all up in her head? Why? Again...she COULD have left...so, on a baseless hunch she decided to join them and kill the world she knew? I assume that there was some sort of evidence left behind that explained some of this stuff to her. If they explained something INCORRECTLY, then that might even be WORSE, since...again...its not like they actually gave us any reason to think that she might be wrong. It's not like some other option was offered.

She put the pieces together in HER HEAD. It reminds me of the scene in Attack the Block where Moses theorizes why the monsters are in the city.

 

[DeadStroke]

People are so caught up why she didn't leave. Yet overlook the fact the AGE of the person. The movie starts off about trauma and the father even mentions that she wasn't gone long enough to get trauma. (The misdirect is that it applied to someone else.) Because that horrific experience kept a the child there. How many times must we here about "why didn't a child or person leave a terrible situation".

The awakening happened at 14. The rest turned to her like a messiah. At that point is when a plan that took several decades can explain whatever plotholes you've considered in terms of the plan.

 

[jolldan]

For me that whole movie is About how human character and behaviour is determinated by your circumstances, most important how much many you have. There is the Family who can buy a random boat and the Family who dont have Money to join the roller Coaster so they do other Things to have fun. From my perspective:

- Scissors have 2 blades, Maybe a symbolism.
- Jason was the only one because he was the youngest of them and in consequence nearest to his doppelganger.
- Red had Talent because she had the ballet lessons. That was original Entertainment. Adalaine was the one who coudnt do that. It was perfectly shown in the fight between These two.
- Moss Carving because her alter ego likes Chirurgy on her face too.

My mate tagged me in a video that explained the ending what I said to him was my problem is that the video was 10 minutes long. I shouldn't need to watch a 10 min video after a 2 hour movie just to really understand it.

• I get that's meant to be the symbolic cutting of the tether between them. But really not even a couple of them dead from getting shot seemed a bit of a stretch
• But there had been no mention or even teasing of this previously, when the kids trick didn't work when they were playing his alter got visibly frustrated and grabbed him.

I concede the bottom two though that makes more sense now thinking about it.