Great idea, questionable execution...

Rating: 7/10 (23 March 2019)

I am torn on whether or not I like the story of Us. Part of me really likes the originality of the idea and the subtle social commentary the film delivers; however, I felt that despite Us having an interesting idea, the execution led to a disjointed story that felt a bit scatterbrained. There were definitely parts of the film that were suspenseful and horrifying, but at the same time, other parts felt too over-explained or tropey. This leads to me having many unanswered questions about certain aspects and feeling like other aspects shouldn't have been explained at all to keep the mystery. I think the story is hard to talk about without spoiling it, but overall, I expected more from Jordan Peele's writing but did enjoy some of it.
Despite my indecisive feelings of the film's story, many pieces of the film were exceptionally well done. One aspect that stood out in Us was the soundtrack and the usage of music. I think the original soundtrack was memorable and used appropriately to accentuate the feeling of horror at some points in the film. On the flip side, the soundtrack was used to perfectly contrast what was going on onscreen. This led to some great sequences (the Beach Boys scene) that utilized the soundtrack in an interesting way. Another part of the film that I really enjoyed was Lupita Nyong'o and the child actors' performances. Nyong'o in particular is the most terrifying part of the film. She plays both a horrific monster and a badass mother, making it easy to forget that the same actor plays them.
As a whole, I think Us is an enjoyable horror film that has some missteps with its story elements and structure. I would recommend this film to horror fans, but don't go into the film expecting anything like Get Out.