Jordan Peele’s Us Movie Review: Worth A Watch?

I was dying to see Jordan Peele’s Us in theaters (no pun intended), but the timing never worked out. My husband and I loved Get Out, so we were both really looking forward to this movie. We had both heard mixed reviews, but the moment it was available to rent on digital, we rented it. Well, the reviews were mixed in our home too – with neither of us being able to say we loved it.

The movie started great. I was sucked in (even though I had an idea where it was going). I was waiting for the “bad guys” to show up and the fighting to start. During this time, I was on the edge of my seat – I couldn’t wait for the action to begin. And then about half way through is when US started to lose me. 

The tethers had arrived, and they were creepy at first. But when they started grunting at each other, they started to get annoying. The fact that only one of them could talk, got old very quickly. 

Saw the Twist From A Mile Away

Both of us knew exactly what the big “twist” was going to be about 8 minutes in to the movie. It seemed so obvious. Toward the end, when a story is explained, I thought I was wrong for about a minute, and then I realized they were just trying to lead us astray. 

Had this twist not been as obvious to me, I might have liked this movie better. I sort of just started waiting for the big reveal. Wondering when it might happen. Which had me distracted throughout the second part of the film. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed it. I just had much higher hopes.

Was It Scary?

I scare easily – and I love it. My husband is always joking with me about how I jump at movies. How I cower under the blankets – with a big smile on my face the whole time. Some parts of this movie had me like this – but not many.

I am usually the type that gets freaked out about weird things. For example, I was expecting to be worried that we all had tethers, because that is just what I do (I still think we might all be androids thanks to Westworld). But honestly, after watching about half of Us, I was not concerned anymore. Most of the tethers were insanely easy to kill – so they pose no real threat.  

If you know me, you know I love a good death scene. Perhaps I am a morbid person, but off the wall kills are some of my favorite scenes in films. I was hoping for more of that here, although some of them were super gory (and I loved it).

Do Tethers Have to Copy Us? Or no?

There were some moments that made absolutely no sense to me. The main point of this movie is that everyone has a tether. Living under ground, and they are forced to do what you do. Except they don’t get delicious food, they get raw rabbit. Tethers do not get to fall in love, instead they have to be with the tether to who we fall in love with. They are literally our shadows.

One tether is even destroyed when its counterpart moves backwards – forcing the tether to walk into flames. But this makes zero sense because the tethers only seem to do what we do when it makes sense to the story. Only a handful of times do we see tethers actually copying what their above ground counterparts are doing. This was immediately obvious to me, and it is what started to make my thoughts on this movie crumble.

Overall Thoughts

Did I love this movie? Nope. I really, really wanted to. Get Out was better in so many ways, and I was hoping US would stand up to the challenge. While it wasn’t as good as Jordan Peele’s previous film, it is still worth a watch. Our plan was to buy this movie if we loved it – we didn’t. And we won’t. 

The concept has such potential. It really did. But it just went off track somewhere. Several parts made no sense. And the hands across America part? Silly. Just plain silly. This could have been fantastic. Instead, it fell flat and becomes a “meh” movie on my list.

But is this worth a watch – absolutely. Save your money though, and just rent it. Or even wait until it is free to watch somewhere. Don’t bother to buy it, as I doubt you will watch it again and again. Overall I give this movie a 3/5. My husband? He placed it at a 2/5. He says it is rotten, while I say it is fresh…but just barely. 

About Us

Accompanied by her husband, son and daughter, Adelaide Wilson returns to the beachfront home where she grew up as a child. Haunted by a traumatic experience from the past, Adelaide grows increasingly concerned that something bad is going to happen.

Her worst fears soon become a reality when four masked strangers descend upon the house, forcing the Wilsons into a fight for survival. When the masks come off, the family is horrified to learn that each attacker takes the appearance of one of them.

Us is available to rent or purchase now!