Us (2019)

Director: Jordan Peele
Stars: Lupita Nyong'o, Winston Duke, Elisabeth Moss
Runtime: 116 minutes

Synopsis: A family's serenity turns to chaos when a group of doppelgängers begins to terrorize them.

Performances: 8/10
Screenplay: 4/10
Costumes/Makeup: 7/10
Editing: 7/10
Cinematography: 8/10
Score/Soundtrack: 6/10
Enjoyment Factor: 5/10

Verdict: It took Jordan Peele one movie to establish himself as a horror master. I mean, "Get Out" is on track to deservedly become a horror classic not only because it's a great horror movie altogether, but also because it included a certain depth to it with the social commentary it provided.

A depth that was sadly not present in "Us".

Don't get me wrong, the film is still a very well crafted one that did a great job setting up the creepy atmosphere with its effective cinematography and eerie main theme. The dual performances (since all actors play two vastly different versions of themselves) were all top notch with Lupita Nyong'o stealing the show in every scene she's in.

The movie's biggest liability, however, lies in its script. As mentioned earlier, it didn't incorporate what made "Get Out" such a memorable hit with some sort of added depth and well-established themes, but instead relied on a forced, unfitting comedic tone to set itself apart from other recent horror flicks (can Winston Duke please stop making dad jokes when his family's being hunted by  a bunch of deranged doppelgängers?). Jordan Peele's second movie also weirdly had an awful lot of clichés and conveniences that made it really difficult to take it seriously.

"Us", in the end, suffered from a conflicting tone that didn't quite work as well as anticipated. As a horror film, it remains one that benefited from a few interesting technical choices and is definitely better than a lot of recent flicks in the genre despite its many flaws in its logic and sequence of events, but it was overall an underwhelming follow up to Peele's directorial debut.

FINAL GRADE: 5.5/10