While the film does boast some talent, the film itself wallows in self importance.

Rating: 7/10 (23 February 2017)

Let me start off by saying this: Get Out is far from a bad film. It is genuinely frightening at times and, dare I say, even genius at some moments. But the film's biggest problem is that it knows it is a step above other horror films and it reeks of self importance. When you take into consideration the political climate in America, Get Out is a film that is hitting at a right time. It is tackling white liberal racism in the upper middle class and it does a very good job at making its point. However, as the film goes on and the scares become more frequent, the film starts feeling cheesy and overwritten even if the performances are truly stunning.
Director Jordan Peele makes the most out of his cast. Daniel Kaluuya gives a truly magnificent performance as Chris while Bradley Whitford and Catherine Keener are utterly horrifying as the Armitages. However, Allison Williams is a weak link and is very dry in her delivery which makes her performance comes off as wooden. She is the weak link and it isn't hard to figure it out especially in her scenes with Kaluuya. The story progresses and Williams' performance is slowly twiddled down which then leaves the glaring issue of the script. While the characters in this film are really layered and relate-able, the story they are in is so overwritten and self indulgent that it is hard to consider this the horror gem many critics and audiences are calling it.
The idea of a great horror film is to thrill and scare while making a social commentary. We look back on such films as Rosemary's Baby, Night of the Living Dead, Friday the 13th (maybe), Halloween...these films have weight to them and you don't know it until it's over. With Get Out, we know this is a film with political undertones, we know it wants us to think this is something more than a horror film. In some regards it is, but in most it is just a horror film that thinks it is more important than it actually is. This takes from what Peele is trying to achieve with directing a horror film. Everything comes off being very tongue-in- cheek instead of being straight horrifying and that is probably the most disappointing factor with Get Out. Instead of sinking these political undertones in the writing, Peele makes them abundantly clear and it ends up taking away from a film that is, otherwise, pretty good.
Get Out is a step above your average horror film and features some pretty amazing performances. Despite this, the film suffers from a very weak script that will feel as if you're being hit over the head with political banter rather than having the sh*t scared out of you. Overall, I was pretty disappointed in Get Out but the film does feature some awesome performances and some genuine scares that will be enough to make you wish the film was better.