User blog:AustinDR/Us (Spoiler Review)



So, after giving my spoiler free thoughts on Us, I feel like I should give some further issues with what my problems were with the rest of the film, so if it needs to be upper cased SPOILERS BEWARE.

So the first minutes of the movie were great. It sets the eerie mood of the film seamlessly with the young Adelaide getting trapped in the hall of mirrors before coming upon her Tethered. I will give it to the film that it does establish the Wilson family pretty well. While there are some hostilities between them, it's clear that they have a bond that their white friends do not have. My only issue is that the Wilsons are kind of bland. Adelaide is probably the only one that stands out as the movie is all about her, but even then, the obvious twist bumps her down a bit. The Tethered's appearance that night is truly eerie with the dual role that Lupita Nyong'o as Red being truly intimidating.

Where the movie fell for me was when the film delved into trying explaining the Tethered's origins. Personally, I would've liked it if the Tethered weren't given an explanation as to WHY they are here or where they came from because it would've prevented an audience from critically thinking of it. I am of the opinion that the Tethered would've worked as being from a parallel dimension and that they'd be born the exact moment that their other counterpart came into existence. By alleging that the Tethered were a secret government experiment to control the populace above ground removes that mystique that the Tethered could've had because now you could be expected to give some answers as to WHY the government saw it as a good idea to invest in.

The Tethered as a concept has many flaws and plot holes. For one, keep in mind that Adelaide and her parents didn't even live in Santa Cruz when she was switched out. So unless that means that the government secretly collected samples from them, or that they were in operation from their hometown, it makes no sense how a Tethered can be created that quickly.

Secondly, the idea that the real Adelaide was imprisoned in the Tethered society is ludicrous because given how her Tethered easily escaped the facility, what ultimately prevented the real Adelaide from doing the same? And then there's her evil plan. Where did all of these doppelgangers get their red jumpsuits and scissors? It would most likely imply that they had gone to the surface world already, so why didn't they kill and replace their counterparts by then?

Why would Adelaide wait thirty odd years to get revenge when she could've literally created an army to invade her home to get rid of the fake Adelaide? And with the death of Pluto, while it was ingenious of Jason to get his Tethered to immolate itself by walking into the flames, why couldn't any of the other family members do it to their copies? I've heard several theories saying he could do it because he was half-Tethered or that he was younger so he could tap into it. My only problem is Zora would also be half-Tethered and yet she had never considered attempting to do that to her copy.

As for the rest of the film, aside from the Wilsons, you had the Tylers. The Tylers felt like a waste of acting on the part of the ones playing Josh and Kitty. The characters were one-note and when they are killed by their Tethered, I didn't find that much of a reason to care. Heck, the movie itself apparently felt the same way because their deaths are taken as darkly comedic as N.W.A.'s "Fuk da Police" starts playing on full blast. To make matters worse, there's no emotional reaction by the Wilson family towards having to kill the doppelgangers of their friends. The fact that they instead indulge in debating on who had the higher body count is disturbing. Really, I feel that's the issue with the Tethered I had. Aside from the comedic tones ruining scenes that could be tension-filled, they are instead depicted as the generic zombie apocalypse.

And then there's the symbolism. While Peele's previous film Get Out had its symbolism such as the metaphorical slave auction that Chris is unwittingly apart of, Us felt weighted down by its many different interpretations. The Tethered could represent anything, most notably disenfranchised second-class citizens who are made to suffer because they would never be able to have what their counterparts had. Some take the real Adelaide's remarks about the Tethered being "Americans" could easily be seen as a metaphor to Native Americans who had their homes and subsequently their cultures whitewashed by conquerors. Again, while I believe that the film should be accepted as its own thing, Get Out had a neatly-wrapped up conclusion that answered the questions it set up whereas Us had a messy ending that is open to interpretation. It wouldn't have been bad to end the film that way as there are many examples where a film ends in an unconventional way that entertains discussion (like The Shining and Eraserhead), but with Us, it was a tedious watch that only elicits confusion rather than a pure analysis.