Interesting Concept, Really Bad Movie

Rating: 1/10 (1 June 2019)

Having an intriguing idea is great, but the director still needs to make a good movie. "Us" just isn't a good movie.
It starts out with great promise. The dark and chaotic prequel sets the tone, followed by a family dysfunction dynamic that carries into the present timeline and promises to be an important and interesting part of the story arc. An early unsettling event provides eerie foreboding.
Then the unsettled becomes terrifying. The "Us" seem supernatural, able to climb walls and outrun normal humans. The movie looks like an isolated, somewhat dysfunctional family facing mortal danger, with great potential to come together while depending on something in mom's background - or not. It's looking like Peele can really do horror!
Then it goes off the rails.
The isolated family idea gets tossed quickly as the story expands to include characters we have no emotional ties to. Then, the weird supernatural qualities of "Us" suddenly and inexplicably vanish. The family tension theme falls away while the main characters become invincible, removing any real sense of tension (or interest really). With no good main character arc, you start wondering where this is all going. Unfortunately, it's not a good place.
Either a horror movie can have a mysterious, unexplained cause, or it can have a well thought out, carefully explained and integrated back-story that teases out as the story unfolds. Unfortunately, Peele achieves the worst of both. He spoils the suspense by "telling" part of the back-story, but then leaves out even the most basic explanation why this could be remotely plausible or undiscovered. I spent the rest of the movie punching holes in the whole ridiculous premise instead of actually watching it.
The final "twist" wasn't nearly satisfying enough to make up for this stinker.