Jordan Peele’s Us was somewhat divisive when it hit theaters in 2019, but it has only grown in my estimation since. Not only did it prove that Get Out was no fluke, but it cemented Peele as a filmmaker with a knack for taking familiar horror tropes and twisting them into something fresh and conceptually bold. It’s a film that balances genre thrills with introspection, making for an experience that is as thought-provoking as it is unsettling.
Once again, Peele’s casting is impeccable. While Get Out helped launch Daniel Kaluuya into Hollywood’s elite, Lupita Nyong’o delivers a career-best performance in Us, one that absolutely should have earned her an Oscar nomination if the Academy were more willing to acknowledge horror films. Her dual performance as both Adelaide Wilson and her terrifying doppelgänger, Red, is among the best horror performances of the 2010s—right up there with Toni Collette in Hereditary, Kaluuya in Get Out, and Florence Pugh in Midsommar.
The story follows Adelaide and her husband Gabe (Winston Duke) as they take their kids, Zora (Shahadi Wright Joseph) and Jason (Evan Alex), to a beach house for a quiet vacation. But when night falls, their trip takes a horrifying turn as they are confronted by a mysterious family that looks exactly like them. What starts as a home invasion thriller soon spirals into something much bigger, exploring themes of class, privilege, and societal division with a scope far beyond what it initially seems.
As Us unfolds, it builds upon its eerie, almost Twilight Zone-esque premise with layers of intricate symbolism. Some of the movie’s energy shifts as its deeper themes begin to take center stage, but like Peele’s other films—Get Out and Nope—it rewards repeat viewings, with small details clicking into place in fascinating ways.
Beyond Nyong’o and Duke’s commanding performances, the child actors—Shahadi Wright Joseph and Evan Alex—also deliver remarkably nuanced work, playing both the Wilson children and their terrifying doppelgängers with chilling precision. It’s rare to see child performances this well-executed, especially in horror.
At the end of the day, if Us is Jordan Peele’s worst movie (which, considering the cultural impact of Get Out and the ambitious scale of Nope, it still might be), that only speaks to how strong his filmography is. Even at its weakest, a Jordan Peele film is better than most filmmakers’ best work, and Us further solidified that every project he releases is a must-see.
Score: 8/10
Us (2019)
- Cast: Lupita Nyong’o, Winston Duke, Elisabeth Moss, Tim Heidecker, Shahadi Wright Joseph, Evan Alex, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Anna Diop
- Director: Jordan Peele
- Genre: Horror, Thriller
- Runtime: 116 minutes
- Rated: R
- Release Date: March 22, 2019
More Reviews for Movies Directed by Jordan Peele
Jordan Peele has directed the following movies:
- Get Out (2017)
- Us (2019)
- Nope (2022)