Jordan Peele has proven that he is in a class of comedy that was proven with the hit sketch comedy show, Key & Peele, which drew comparisons to the likes of Chappelle’s Show (I know not everyone will agree on that, but let’s just stay on topic here). When he took the world by storm with his theatrical debut, Get Out, it was a new spin on the horror genre that no one thought was needed, but pretty much filled a hole in not only the social commentary of cinema, but including Black people in the genre where they’re not the first people killed (it’s the little things that matter, truly).

Seeing that the bar was set so high off the strength of Get Out, which is a good problem to have, many people walked into Us with the expectation that this was going to captivate audiences in a twisted way, that kind of setup can doom you to not appreciating the movie as its own piece, instead of comparing it to its predecessor (although, naturally, that just happens). Needless to say, seeing the mixed reviews and people asking me to watch it to give it some input, I waited a week, but I finally saw it, and I will say that I did enjoy it.

The most common narrative that you can go with, is that we are our own worst enemies, but that’s really too simple of an idea to carry through a Jordan Peele picture, as we’ve seen already. Lupita Nyong’o was the story that tethered the movie together, because without her story, there is no movie. The elements of childhood trauma playing a factor into the events that occur, can speak to the many children who are meek & quiet, because of the experiences at home or other incidents that lead to PTSD into adulthood, as was depicted early in the movie, and revealed more as the movie moved forward.

My wife and I hate horror movies, it’s the genre that I’ve never nor will ever care for in any capacity, but because Jordan Peele made ‘Get Out,’ which combined intelligence with suspense (which is a rare find, according to Horror buffs out there), it makes it that much easier to support what he does, and that intelligence blended with the suspense is what made this movie enjoyable. Of course, you can predict what’s going to happen at various points, but it certainly took turns that I didn’t anticipate, thus kept both of us on our toes, for a majority of the movie.

There were complaints about how the movie ended (which I obviously won’t spoil), but I think when you look at the commercial at the beginning of the movie (not a spoiler, it’s just a piece of information), and the events that occurred to Adelaide, and that coincidences are a constant that trigger the events, I found it to be intriguing, because especially at the final confrontation, and then the last few minutes before the movie’s end, you’re left with questions rather than solid answers, and I can think of one movie off the top of my head (Inception) that gave myself, and a lot of people, that similar feeling of questioning (was he dreaming or was it real?).

There are many movies where you’ll have to watch them multiple times (or maybe you have a brilliant mind and catch everything on the first go around) in order to truly get the essence of a movie. People will say that’s a cop-out for saying that a movie isn’t good, but if people are willing to spend their money to watch a near-2 hour movie more than once, doesn’t that mean to some degree, it was intriguing enough to watch in the first place? That’s good cinema. It propels you to have conversations about it, and make you watch it more than once. I saw Get Out more than once, and was having conversations about it for about a month. To say that ‘Us’ will have the same impact, I’m not sure, but there were a lot of themes within it to certainly raise those questions.

The music gave life to the movie as the rollercoaster effect was constant, and in the opening credits, Peele doesn’t give you time to breathe, because you just feel like it’s going to be some shit right off the jump. It was well executed, and it’s nice to be in a movie theatre to bob your head a bit while at the same time having your heart rate jump at any given moment. That’s unique, and Jordan Peele is the filmmaker that’s needed right now to give a new approach within a genre, and in Hollywood overall, that have Black people excited to go to the movies (not that we never were, but that’s besides the point – it’s bigger than that).

I may find myself watching this movie again at some point, because after doing concise research of what the hell I missed, I’ll want to experience the whole thing over just to appreciate it more. I appreciate what Jordan Peele is doing, and he’ll always get money from me to watch his films. He’s 2 for 2 in my books. But alas, this is my opinion, this is my review,

That’s My Word & It STiXX