Us

Official Australian release date: 28/3/19. Viewed: 30/3/19.

Directors: Jordan Peele

Actors: Lupita Nyong’o, Winston Duke, Shahadi Joseph, Evan Alex

Genre: Horror / Thriller

Rating: MA

‘Us’ is the second film from Jordan Peele, after ‘Get Out’, and is similarly a psychological thriller, with moments of violence thrown in. It takes a little while to set everything up and provide some backstory (& rabbits!?), but then the doppelgangers show up and the film turns into a home invasion/survival film. The main cast – Mum Adelaide (Nyong’o), Dad Gabe (Duke), Daughter Zora (Joseph) and Son Jason (Alex) – are all great and clearly have a lot of fun playing their dual roles.

Josh (Heidecker) and Kitty (Moss) also have significant supporting roles, but it really comes down to how the family of four handles their terrible situation. No spoilers, but Peele does well with building tension, using a creepy girls-choir score, colour motifs and flashbacks. It’s not a typical horror film, but it certainly has scary moments.

There’s an almost Shyamalan-like twist at the end, but the whole thing’s probably 15min too long and runs out of steam a bit. There’s a lot of how/why questions left unanswered, but it’s still fun and smart enough, without being exceptional.

Overall: Solid and interesting thriller.

Gav's Rating: 3.5 stars.