Peele is 0/2 for me

Rating: 5/10 (24 March 2019)

"Us" is one of those films that makes its viewers ask a lot of questions but isn't afraid to answer any of them. Sometimes it can work in a film like "2001: A Space Odyssey" (What is the purpose and source of the monoliths and why does Hal become murderous?) or "A Quiet Place" (Where did the creatures come from?) but with "Us" the fact that the film never reveals much about the doppelgÃ¤ngers (or The Tethered as they are referred to in the film), their purpose, who created them and how they easily find their originals even though they are on vacation from wherever they traveled from is huge questions that serve as a great source of frustration for me. The film simply throws too many unexplained plot elements and simply asks us to accept them as if we are working with a jigsaw puzzle whose pieces never fit. As far as the film's publicity of being "the greatest horror film of all-time" I would ask whoever gave this praise to the film if they had ever seen the original "Holloween" or "The Exorcist" or even newer horror films like "The Ring" or "It Follows". These were scary films, "Us" never put me on edge or made me jump, not once. I was too busy being confused or noticing Peele's penchant of throwing in humor during the oddest moments. I will confess some of the jokes made me laugh, but it took away from any chance of the film frightening me. One thing that I did pick up on, and that I sort of enjoyed about the film were the many homages, either intentional or not, to many classic horror films of the past. Films like "Halloween", "The Shining" and "Jaws" are cleverly given nods to and it might be fun to watch the film again to find more. The one thing that I didn't really pick up was the social commentaries that people have commented are in this film as well. I didn't really sense that but I have a couple of theories including one that deals with the commercial a young Adelaide watches that plays a role in the ending of the film. Now I will warn you that the film has a huge shocking ending that is fairly predictable if you pay attention, in fact there are many key moments that are extremely predictable. So much so that I could hear other audience members in my theater making reveals the same moments I was thinking them, causing me to believe that Peele really dropped the ball with his script. Where I will praise the film is in its cinematography and its excellent soundtrack, one of the best in a horror film recently. But Peele's efforts as a horror writer and director frankly missed with me personally.