Jordan Peele’’s 'Us'

Really didn't dig this one half as much as Get Out, and I was only pretty moderately into Get Out anyway.

I dunno, this sort of felt a good deal more conventional somehow, even if I didn't quite see where it was going before it went there, once it played out it did feel a bit less creative than his first. It's really not all that scary for the most part either. Performances are nice though, Lupita's pretty much always awesome in everything.

Would really like to see Peele give something other than horror a shot next time around though, he's clearly got some directing talent.
 
Holy exposition dump, Batman.

But anyways, well.

Hmm.

Ah...

I mean, I had a lot of fun. Good full-audience theater experience. I don't know if the editing was always doing the job it needed to do in terms of building dread and what not but I was a fan of the humor and the cinematography and the overall vibe and Lupita is a treasure and the funky fresh soundtrack.

I'm the kind of person who tends to look at film thematically and this film certainly SEEMS to invite that, a lot... but. Yeah.

I think Peele got the sense that a lot of people were gonna come out for this one. This is a fun and fundamentally strange film. It's a fable and an allegory and some of it seems purely visually motivated, and when Peele just listens to that visual instinct, it sings. But I think he also feels the need to explain, or establish a schematic sort of access to his thoughts and his story here... and so you get an Exposition Dump for the Ages and just some really heavy-handed slow-motion underlining for emPHASis.

Loved that opening, man, it was grrreat--felt like someone brought Carpenter into 2019. Loved big fat chunks of the first half of the movie. Loved the setpieces. Loved so many shots from the end of the movie even as the movie trying to explain itself really kind of lost me. In general I thought the humor worked better than the horror, to the point that maybe the humor was undermining the horror but I don't know, I was okay with this being more of a dark family comedy with some horror tropes and high concept ideas than a horror movie with comedic and conceptual elements. The overall balance and tone worked for me but yeah, man, some scenes were edited masterfully and others felt kind of slack.

I haven't read too many reviews of this yet but I usually have my own sort of insights after a film like this and with this one... yeah, I'm struggling. I enjoyed the experience but for as much as the film sort of ponderously seems to invite analysis, I don't think I can really analyze it in a cogent way because I'm not sure how cogent the film itself is, despite it being a very woven together piece. The way it says things is seductive and engaging, but what it's actually saying beneath the polish and coherency of its presentations feels much more like a self-cancelling muddle. God, for all I know, that's the point!

So yeah, just looking at this as a genre exercise and piece of entertainment, I think it is really successful. If they had removed the exposition maybe I could have just reveled in that aspect of it more. Feels like that third act would have been so much more entrancing and haunting if that monologue had simply been removed.
 
Why didn't the main family's Tethered kill them immediately? Just felt like they were playing with them during the "Untethering". The white family were murdered by their Tethered almost instantly. I just don't get it.
 
ThePowerCosmic said:
Why didn't the main family's Tethered kill them immediately? Just felt like they were playing with them during the "Untethering". The white family were murdered by their Tethered almost instantly. I just don't get it.
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Adelaide was the leader behind the whole uprising and basically wanted to take her time, as she said to Red.
 
DeadStroke said:
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.
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Speaking of things being made up in people's head...your conclusions are also made up in your head, but you are speaking about them as if they are fact.

That is a very detailed idea that she came up with, assuming that you are correct and that there was no evidence left behind for her to piece things together with.

And if this story is not true and is in her head...then...uh...what IS the truth? They gave me an answer...with ZERO real reason to doubt her (aside from you just saying that she obviously made it up)...and there's not a scrap of evidence that she made it up or a single bit of info leading to any other origin being correct.

"She just decided not to leave" isn't a good enough explanation. She left to go get the gloves and scissors etc. It probably took many trips. You're saying that she walked down there and just chose to join this group, give up her entire life, and then spend decades planning to kill the world she actually grew up in, when she could have just turned around and walked home and no one would have stopped her. That's...a big leap. She was not being abused or held captive by anyone down there.
 
Some people seem to just have trouble suspending their disbelief and letting go when it comes to watching films, choosing to focus on all of the supposed logical inconsistencies.

It's funny. Most of the things people are *****ing about didn't cross my mind once when watching the film or afterwards.
 
In this age of information we need explanations for everything. Even in our fiction we don't like being told, "this just how it is, deal with it."
 
Lasirius said:
Saw it last night. Having seen an advance preview while the film was in post-production, I'll be that guy and say that I preferred the first version of the film. Nothing really changed other than the way it was edited and a couple of things added in, especially some of the exposition in the ending provided by Red. It was originally left a little more ambiguous which made it a lot more thought-provoking.

The story doesn't deviate though, I still really liked it. I'd say 8.5/10 when I first rated it a 9/10.
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Aw man, personally I wish I had seen that version. I liked the movie a good bit but I think I would have loved it without as much exposition at the end. Sounds like Peele got some feedback from test audiences or suits that he needed to explain things more. But I really wish he hadn't, I wish we'd been allowed to just sort of "feel" the movie at the end through the visuals, because the visuals were great. It's just that my brain was also kind of distracted trying to wrap itself around the implications of that exposition dump.

While it could have been a little more concise, the exposition from the "fireside chat" was handled well, though. Introduced us to the basic concept and set up some themes but also written with a sort of poetry to it that was effective. Not surprising that that piece of exposition was in the original version of the film while the piece at the end was test-marketed into existence.

I totally agree with the one poster who said that this version of the film tries to have its cake and eat it, too, when it comes to how it presents its themes and concepts--that duality worked for him/her, but it didn't work as well for me. I would have preferred more ambiguity and let the story just be a dream/nightmare logic kind of deal, that way the questions about the plotting and logistics and so on wouldn't really have mattered as much and we could just soak in the atmosphere and visuals of the movie--while still getting some of that social allegory for each viewer to try to interpret.
 
Imagine if people wanted this level of explanation and "logic" with other horror films

- How did Freddy gain the power to enter and exit dreams and affect people in real life? Is he a telepath? Was he one before he was killed??
- Do the ghosts in the Shining phase shift between dimensions? If so, how did they learn to harness this power? What is their ghost society like?!

hyperbole obviously, but imagine an ambiguous movie like the Shining coming out now, people would s**t... Look at a movies like Prometheus as to why horror movies don't need to be and shouldn't be explained to death

but yeah, on the points above, studio mandated [because of test screening confusion] exposition dumps are never a good thing
 
BoredGuy said:
Imagine if people wanted this level of explanation and "logic" with other horror films

- How did Freddy gain the power to enter and exit dreams and affect people in real life? Is he a telepath? Was he one before he was killed??
- Do the ghosts in the Shining phase shift between dimensions? If so, how did they learn to harness this power? What is their ghost society like?!

hyperbole obviously, but imagine an ambiguous movie like the Shining coming out now, people would s**t... Look at a movies like Prometheus as to why horror movies don't need to be and shouldn't be explained to death

but yeah, on the points above, studio mandated [because of test screening confusion] exposition dumps are never a good thing
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I agree with that idea, but the mistake this film makes, imo, is that it STARTS the logic questions itself by trying to over-explain its premise through sci-fi means. If it hadn’t done that, I wouldn’t have bothered questioning the logic behind it at all.

This film invites those questions in a way those films you mentioned do not.
 
flickchick85 said:
I agree with that idea, but the mistake this film makes, imo, is that it STARTS the logic questions itself by trying to over-explain its premise through sci-fi means. If it hadn’t done that, I wouldn’t have bothered questioning the logic behind it at all.

This film invites those questions in a way those films you mentioned do not.
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Exactly. The film invites you to pick apart it’s internal logic by presenting a logical explanation for what could’ve been an unexplained or supernatural event.
 
I went back and rewatched a few scenes through a cam version, and I have to say I really appreciate how a lot of the scares don't rely on a stupid music cue to make you jump. I wasn't able to fully get that in the theaters because the people in my audience were reacting kind of loud (not a complaint, it made for a fun experience), but I watching it again it was kind of cool.

The doppelgänger's first appearance had some Carpenter's original Halloween vibes. Despite his writing here being weak, Peele really impresses me with his directing. It still surprises me how good he is.
 
Persona said:
While it could have been a little more concise, the exposition from the "fireside chat" was handled well, though. Introduced us to the basic concept and set up some themes but also written with a sort of poetry to it that was effective. Not surprising that that piece of exposition was in the original version of the film while the piece at the end was test-marketed into existence.
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I can only speak of my own experience but during the focus group of about 30 people, most grievances were pertaining to how ambiguous it was and they needed more information in the matter. I just remember thinking it didn't need the exposition and maybe those edits, but it did seem to lag in some instances. A lot of theories and explanations behind the symbolism were running through my head and couldn't wait to discuss them with others but didn't feel the same thrill upon seeing the final theatrical release.

I'd say it's a lot more in line how I felt about Donnie Darko Director's Cut vs the original cut, the original one being a little bit superior. However, I don't think the movie suffered from a significant amount of studio interference.
 
DC should headhunt peele to do their Green Lantern movie now. Peele is a master story teller (like hitchcock and early M.night).
 
and.....yes, i caught this movie. It is very good. Not as shockingly good as Get Out.......but a close 2nd.
 
Lasirius said:
I can only speak of my own experience but during the focus group of about 30 people, most grievances were pertaining to how ambiguous it was and they needed more information in the matter. I just remember thinking it didn't need the exposition and maybe those edits, but it did seem to lag in some instances. A lot of theories and explanations behind the symbolism were running through my head and couldn't wait to discuss them with others but didn't feel the same thrill upon seeing the final theatrical release.

I'd say it's a lot more in line how I felt about Donnie Darko Director's Cut vs the original cut, the original one being a little bit superior. However, I don't think the movie suffered from a significant amount of studio interference.
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We're people asking about the underground tunnel? Do you remember if that opening text was apart of the version you saw first?
 
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And will continue well.
 
I loved this movie! The acting chops on Lupita are so amazing, and those kids were holding there own. I mean, Pluto...

I'm glad my gloves came in time for me to wear them to my screening. I'll be wearing them everyday.
D2hg6FiWkAU0FsK.jpg
 
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Don't wear them around me, i might have to get that bat.
 
ironman_rick said:
DC should headhunt peele to do their Green Lantern movie now. Peele is a master story teller (like hitchcock and early M.night).
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How dare you sir. I've already petitioned the MCU to snatch up Peele before DC gets their grubby little hands on him.
 
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