Review: Jordan Peele’s latest movie makes ‘Us’ reflect on society

Jordan Peele’s newest movie “Us,” released on March 22, has been blowing up the box office. “Us” follows the Wilson family and their experience one summer night. The movie begins in 1986 at a carnival in Santa Cruz. Five year-old Adelaide Wilson and her family are having fun at the carnival when Adelaide steps away and walks into a house of mirrors. In the house of mirrors, she sees a double of herself.

The movie then cuts to present day featuring Adelaide (Lupita Nyong’o), Zora (Shahadi Wright Joseph), Jason (Evan Alex) and Gabe Wilson (Winston Duke) on the way to their summer home in Santa Cruz. The family is a typical American family going on a summer vacation to their beach house. It is here the audience learns that Adelaide Wilson was the same child who got lost in the hall of mirrors. The movie continues to follow the family for the rest of the day until the big scene happens. Jason, the youngest child, sees a family in their driveway — one that is later discovered to be identical to the Wilson family. Gabe goes outside to and asks the family “if they want to get crazy.” It is then when the family in the driveway begins to run and break into the family’s house. Being illuminated by the fire, it can be seen that the family is identical to the Wilson family. The new family is just wearing red jumpsuits and motorcycle gloves.

It is then that the movie kicks off and the plot really begins to escalate. At this point in the movie, the audience learns about the people and the purpose of their actions. From then on, the plot really starts to pick up. People start to die and purpose begins to show reason.

“Us” jumps back and forth between the present and the past, featuring many scenes with Adelaide’s parents trying to figure out what happened to their daughter in the fun house. This allowed the audience to see the perspective from two different sides and sets of characters.

Like “Get Out,” “Us” was full of unexpected twists and turns. The whole movie, I thought it was going to be one way and then it ended in a completely different way than expected. This movie was twist after twist, and when the final twist was revealed, I was shocked. The plot twist in this movie was more shocking than that end of “Get Out.” Unlike “Get Out,” Peele’s previous movie from 2017, “Us” relied more on jump scares for it’s horror rather than the slow burn which “Get Out” provided.  

I really liked “Us” due to its character dynamic and its plot. I love horror movies and seeing this new twist made it especially interesting for me. I really like a movie where I am unable to figure out what is going on until the end of the movie. If it works like this, it means the movie has outsmarted me. The actors playing the characters in “Us” all seemed perfect for the roles they played. Lupita Nyong’o, who played herself as well as her clone, captured both of the roles in perfect ways.

So, whether you are a fan of Jordan Peele or just a fan of horror movies, make sure to check “Us” out before it leaves the theaters.