For Us By Us: Jordan Peele is Back to Scare Everybody

When Jordan Peele chopped and screwed “I Got 5 On It” we should’ve known we were in for a wild ride. 

I was able to attend an advance screening of Us and it was the highlight of my week. It was such a black experience that there was almost a fight in the line. I love us for real. 

Us is a movie about a black family visiting their summer home in Santa Cruz. What they think is a relaxing getaway quickly turns into a fight for their lives. The family quickly learns that there are alternate versions of themselves called the tethered. These doppelgängers are animalistic and creepy and super strong. 

Jordan Peele made it a point to cast a dark skinned family to show representation in this movie. Lupita Nyong’o and Winston Duke have a great chemistry as they are great friends in real life. I haven’t seen too many of her movies before Black Panther but watching her play the roles of Adelaide and Red I quickly saw why she won an Oscar. Lupita’s acting really carries the movie through some points where there are plot holes. Now with keeping Get Out in mind I am sure there are certain political details that I might not have caught the first time around. But this movie does leave you with a lot more questions than answers. What are The Tethered supposed to represent? I am sure there is a reason why when asked “What are you?” Red replies “we are Americans.” To me that was a reference to MAGA jerks. The Tethered plan to make a huge demonstration and come up from the darkness underground and show America that they have been in control the whole time. This can be a correlation to how in today’s society the MAGA jerks now feel like they have power and control because their leader is in office so they are rising up and public displays of racism are more prevalent than ever. 

Another question I was left with was who created The Tethered? How long have they been around? If humans created them to control the general population when did this began? How did they connect them? Via DNA? They cloned their soul? How?

Now even though I do have so many questions about Us, I absolutely enjoyed it. It was so suspenseful. No fake jump scares- just true horror that played with you mentally and had you looking over your shoulder as you left the movie. It had the right amount of humor mixed in that lightened the mood when you got too scared. The acting was incredible. Once we discovered that Adelaide traded places with Red when she was lost in the amusement park you still wanted her to win because ... well she made it this far and was able to lead a normal life- why not let her win? 

Let’s also talk about Jeremiah 11:11. This is what the homeless man on the beach has written on his sign. The number also appears hidden in different scenes, like on the top of the ambulance at the end of the movie. “Therefore thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will bring evil upon them, which they shall not be able to escape; and though they shall cry unto me, I will not hearken unto them.” Could this refer to how The Tethered have been treated as the underclass all this time and now they will rise up? 

I loved the originality of this movie. It was really unlike anything we had ever seen and the plot was very different. 

I feel like we deserve a sequel to this movie to find out what happens next. Please and thanks Jordan. 

What were your thoughts on Us? Did you have as many unanswered questions as me? I definitely plan to go see this movie again. I saw Get Out in theaters twice because I enjoyed it so much and I feel the same way about this movie.