"Untether" this from Get out

Rating: 6/10 (21 July 2019)

We get it, we also liked Get out. But if you watched this one without knowing who the director was, it would be just another horror flick which has some good ideas but ultimately fails to deliver. Make that exercise, consider this one on its own merits and not "tethered" to Jordan Peel's prior success.
We get it, there's room for interpretation in the subterranean puppet show that emerges causing the conflict of the movie. But you have to provide the elements for the interpretation to be something else than mere display of imagination. That's why the critics rate it higher than the public: it leaves room for them to come up with pretentious and witty remarks about aspects where the film remains silent.
That, however, is an easy game to play. We could talk about the duality of parenthood, the persistence of some primal aspect of the self behind our choices, which watches from the shadow as we betray our essence, or about how the face of the other, in Levinas writings, is the foundation of ethic.
But why would we do that? The movie doesn't give enough elements for that kind of strecht. It just mentions some things, come up with a convolluted science and politics behind the tethered existence, and trusts that its visuals and vibe will deliver the rest.
We get it, and it's an okay film. It just falls short when it tries to take itself too seriously.