US (2019)

                   Us(2019): Brilliant Script and a Powerful Performance to boot!

Accompanied by her husband, son and daughter, Adelaide Wilson returns to the beachfront home where she grew up as a child. Haunted by a traumatic experience from the past, Adelaide grows increasingly concerned that something bad is going to happen. Her worst fears soon become a reality when four masked strangers descend upon the house, forcing the Wilsons into a fight for survival. When the masks come off, the family is horrified to learn that each attacker takes the appearance of one of them.

This may yet be Lupita's most complete acting performance, and the script provided a solid platform upon which her masterpiece was displayed. Jordan Peele's latest horror rendition is almost everything it offered with its first teasers and with the seemingly ridiculous plot concept. The story was amazing, the characters were bizarre and quite ably represented, the conflict element was as strange as the concept itself and the storytelling was masterful. There was only so much we could have asked for, except the loss of the fear factor midway into the movie.
Now the concept is good; Doppelgangers! it was capable of being woven into several terrifying narratives, but the one chosen could much easily have been the most incredible of all potential plots. The story pretty much tried at least to deviate from some of the cliché of the horror genre, successfully or otherwise, depending on the viewer's personal inclinations. We were more impressed with the decision of the writer not to dally too much on the character and plot developments, and perhaps that in itself created a conscious awareness that any of the characters could be dispensed with at a moment's thought.
That in itself is a scary enough thought, most especially when you factor in the fact that it's a closely knitted family, and Adelaide(Lupita) already seem to have something she would rather stay far away from.

That being said, the conflict was pretty basic at the go. Rampaging killers, nothing extraordinary. Where the terror factor was introduced in the first instance was the realisation that the home invaders were doppelgangers, almost perfect replicas, which got even scarier when Adelaide's shadow spoke for the first time, introducing her own family. It was very very spooky, especially with the wide-eyed expression and the coarse raspery voice in which communicated her intent... now that is how to make a scary and chilling appearance, and Lupita absolutely nailed the part!
  Those initial perfect renditions were about the only stunningly fearful parts of the movie's first parts ( at least on the first watch), for it became immediately apparent that there was a plot hole or character armours( or so it appeared) which was keeping the family alive needlessly. For the Shadows that made it a point of duty to take what their human counterparts had, the attempts at killing them was surely slow in coming. This was even more brazen with the quick dispatch of the Tyler family.
All of this quickly made the audience question why the plot holes were so obvious, but that is absolutely where Peele got it all right. He took the viewers on an intense deadly chase through the streets and down to the pits of the earth, only to emerge from the depths with a chilling realisation; one that makes the viewer question his choices of character support ,one that also questions the entire fabric of the movie, and makes the viewer want to see the movie for a second time just to really appreciate what had transpired. 

An intriguing realisation is that the girl who had no business being under the sun had been there and had become part of a family and even fought to protect this family, while the girl who should not be in the depths had been there for all of the years the other had made a family. A Doppelganger who was not really a Doppelganger, and a girl who was not truly a girl. Then the question springs forth, why did she become it, and it become her? Could the fact of their switch of places be the reason for their change of character and mannerism? This may seem to be the obvious or accepted explanation, for when it and her where in the depths, where it all began, she momentarily became it, and it became her, causing it to regain her humanity, and it to lose all sense of humanity. It could not have been more chilling realising that each had been living the other's life without even realising it.
This gut wrenching reveal changes the entire outlook of the movie, for not only does it explain away the notion of a plot hole, but it, in an exceptional manner changes the narrative into one of deep thought and a well orchestrated plan, for her to take back her life from it.
It's a very crazy movie, evenly paced with a lot of action scenes, dark humour and witty conversations. It may not be one of Elisabeth Moss's most stellar performances, but Lupita certainly did stand out in a most astonishing fashion. Being able to handle two character roles with starkly different personas is just genius and pure class. By her countenance and her voice performance, the fear factor is created. What the movie's kill factor failed to instill in the viewer, the gait, poise, strange agility and the mannerism of speech of the Shadows(especially Lupita's) delivered it in excesses.
  We should warn that the movie is not all smooth sailing, for like we said before, the mid credit scenes lost all fear or terror factors and became partly humorous and at best high octane comedy. But that should take nothing away from the movie, because all of that could most easily be explained away with the super reveal at the end of the movie. The fact that Adelaide wanted nothing to do with the town, the fact that Adelaide was not shocked beyond taking action, and the fact that she knew where the Shadow took her son all came together in the end. It's brilliant storytelling from Jordan Peele and we must commend him. He turned a perceived weakness of the movie into its strongest point. Plus, when you factor in the movie's original music score by......... You totally appreciate the terror that emanates from simplicity. The movie's music is as bone chilling terrifying as the catlike gait and fascinating mannerism of speech of the Tethered.

This In our view is a very incredible and well thought out movie with a lot going for it in terms of story, casting, performance, fear factor and a dramatic finale. The movie may not pack a lot of scream into it, but it didn't need it because the end scene is a very hairy and blood curdling affair. It is the type of stuff that could make your hair stand on end.
We recommend this totally to all of our readers, it's worth the time, worth the money and worth every effort you exert in seeing this absolute beauty. You don't want to miss out on this. Barring what may yet happen, this movie may be the best horror movie of 2019! It already trumps Pet Sematary by a long mile.

Directed by Jordan Peele
Produced by Jason Blum Ian Cooper Sean McKittrick Jordan Peele 
Written by Jordan Peele 
Starring Lupita Nyong'o Winston Duke Elisabeth Moss Tim Heidecker 
Music by Michael Abels 
Cinematography Mike Gioulakis
 Edited by Nicholas Monsour
 Production companies Monkeypaw Productions, Perfect World Pictures 
Distributed by Universal Pictures

FCA's AppR: 8.7/10