A solid sophomore effort.

Rating: 6/10 (1 April 2019)

Jordan Peele, primarily known for his work in comedy, made waves throughout the horror scene in 2017 with his directorial debut Get Out; a tightly written, intense horror/thriller that impressed both audiences and critics alike. Peele's sophomore effort, Us, centers around a family as they retreat to their lovely beach house in Santa Cruz for a holiday. Adelaide (Nyong'o) remains trepidatious about the getaway, plagued by an incident from her childhood that occurred there. Gabe (Duke), her carefree, fun-loving husband, encourages her to just relax and enjoy their time there, oblivious to the threat Adelaide knows is out there somewhere. All hell then breaks loose when a family of twisted, murderous doppelgangers arrive outside their house, standing on their driveway hand in hand. What begins as a fun family holiday morphs into a horrifying night of unexplainable terror, in which Adelaide and her family must fight and kill their evil doppelgangers to ensure their survival.
With Us, Peele cements his status as a director to watch. There is a lot to like about Us, but there are several things that hold the film back from reaching the heights of Get Out. Front and centre of the film is an outstanding lead performance by Lupita Nyong'o. She's absolutely fantastic and nails both performances excellently, capturing both the twisted malevolence of Adelaide's doppelganger and the frightened desperation of Adelaide herself as she strives to protect her family and end the terror once and for all. Winston Duke is great fun as Gabe, too. Unlike Get Out, Us is a straight up horror film that falls more into the league of the slasher subgenre, abandoning the thriller aspects rife in Peele's debut and going for straight up murderous mayhem that, once it gets going, rarely stops. As for the doppelganger family, they're certainly a menacing screen presence, especially the brother, who's face is obscured behind a mask that appears to have been riffed from The Orphanage (2007).
On the other hand, there were elements of the film that I felt did not quite work as strongly. Humour in horror is difficult to pull off (1998's Bride of Chucky is a perfect example of horror-comedy done right), and in Us, there are sometimes moments of comedy inserted in places that rob the film of its scare factor. There is a particular plot point introduced in the film, roughly around the half way point, that frustratingly diminishes the unnerving, sinister mystique of the doppelganger family that was constructed so brilliantly in the films first act. As that plot point develops, I found myself slowly losing interest in the overall premise of the film. Ultimately, it all leads to a twist that, after some thought, doesn't quite stick the landing as well as it could have done. It is during the third act in which it all begins to falter. Peele displays plenty of interesting ideas here, but they're not as cohesively executed as his concepts in Get Out were, resulting in a rather muddled finale.
Us is a solid second film from Peele, though it's not as strong as his debut. It is an interesting film, for sure, and may be a film that benefits from repeat viewings, but it really is Nyong'o's outstanding central performance that holds the whole film together.