A POLITE REVIEW: US
”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." - Jeremiah 11:11
Translation = Look niggas.. don’t ask me for shit when shit go left. I done told ya ass now look at you. Go ask ya momma. Don’t ask me for shit.
I just wanted to start this shit with that verse that has been shown in this film. When you read the story behind Jeremiah and his warning to the homies in Babylon you be like “Damn this shit deep.” Pac already warned us in the interview he had in jail when he begged the black community to not support the phonies and support the real. Jeremiah seen prophets giving praise to false idols and he told his people if you continue to support the bullshit then Jerusalem bout to be destroyed. Compare that verse to now. Pac warned us. Look at society today. Look at how many false idols are praised in Politics, Social Media, Religion, Sports, Hollywood, and Music. It’s spooky.
Anyway. US. A Polite Review. Yes there are spoilers. Turn your goofy ass around if you haven’t seen this movie yet.
Going into this I was excited. “Get Out” was fun, spooky, eye opening, a great experience. When I seen the “US” trailer and seen the plot I was like “Damn this nigga Jordan Peele gotta be smoking the finest of tree and I want some.” This nigga is very good at this movie shit and I’m a beat his ass if he ever stop this shit.
“US” is about the Wilson Family, a family of 4 who take a trip to their beach house and they are terrorized by another family 4 who looks exactly like them. It’s basically that episode of The Jamie Foxx show where Jamie clone robbed the bank and tried to get Fancy to give him top except there’s killing.
THE SHIT THAT I LIKE
So off the top there’s a fucking BEAUUUUUUTIFUL shot of Young Adelaide in her Thriller shirt her Meek Mill Headass daddy won for her and the shot is her standing on the boardwalk and her looking down the stairs to the beach and the shot is so eerie that it’s beautiful. The shot just indicates that Adelaide done fucked up and made the wrong decision. Sorry I had to go film nerd on niggas real quick but this is one of the best stories told visually. The shooting style of this film I am in absolute love with. I’m a simp for it.
The moments I would brace myself for a jump scare and the jump scare never happened were so brilliant to me. It was like Jordan Peele was trying to prove a point. He was letting the audience know that he doesn’t need to rely on jump scares for horror entertainment. He wants you to feel where he’s coming from. I loved that because it was like a light flex in a way. All these horror, thriller, and suspense films over the years just rely on jump scares in their films. It’s all they have in their bag of tricks. Jordan shows you that it’s much more to his work than that and I loved that about this film.
The pacing of this film was perfect. FUCKING PERFECT! In majority of horror films there is so much filler and I’m just like “C’mon when niggas gone start dying?” They try to explain everything in the middle of the film and that’s where they fuck up. In US once the location is established and the main characters and supporting characters are introduced it’s like okay lets start NOW and we not clearing shit up! Just deal with what we give you now. The evil clone family appeared quick as fuck and I loved it. Jordan Peele threw us into the pit of hell IMMEDIATELY. No build up at all and I love him for that. The whole film was paced like a good classic horror film.
Everyone did a great job acting. They had to play 2 versions of themselves which is hard as fuck and everyone hit it out the park. Lupita was amazing and I’m hope she gets some praise for the amazing job she did in this film. Lupita is definitely one of my favorite actors after this film.
Red sounded like she ate Popeye Biscuits everyday.
A white man died first in a horror movie for once. Finally.
Jordan Peele has balance and it’s scary how much balance he has. This film is the perfect balance of horror and thriller. Thriller films and Horror films are different and Jordan has a knack for walking a tightrope between the two and executing every time.
I like how the villain is simple. The clones known as “The Tethered” are simple as fuck and kinda robotic which makes them really creepy.
The comedy came in the perfect spots. Literally I’d be on the edge of my seat one second and the next second I’m laughing my ass off then immediately I’m back on the edge of my seat again. The comedy wasn’t forced it was damn near perfect. There was just one spot where I was like “Okay chill” but it wasn’t terrible. The N.W.A “Fuck The Police” scene was classic. Then the Kill Count argument was silly as fuck I enjoyed that a lot. The father Gabe (Winston Duke) was the comic relief and he lived up to the title. He was hilarious. I liked how they made light of such a bizarre ass situation. Niggas are running away from evil clones of themselves and have no clue why.
Aye could yall beat y’all ass? Like you really think about that? If you we’re cloned could you give yourself the fade? That would fuck a lot of people up. Like damn I’m pretty and I gotta fuck this pretty ass nigga up.
The score of this film is out of this world. I haven’t been impressed with a score of a film in a while. The music was on point from start to finish.
That big ass nigga Gabe is not sleeping in a sweatshirt. Nigga never. I thought that was funny.
The daughter runs like Mr.Burns from The Simpsons. Slow as fuck. I was in the theater crying at how slow she ran but she made up for it by killing muhfuckas.
The white guy boat name was B’Yachtch” Lmaoooooo!
The Father’s clone sounded like Lil Darryl from Rickey Smiley and that was amusing.
The entire plot for US is described in the first few minutes of the movie and it’s crazy. You see the caged rabbits, then the VHS movies next to the tv in the flashback “The Man With Two Brains” “The Goonies” and “C.H.U.D”
In The Man With Two Brains Steve Martin is a brain surgeon who makes a connection with a brain in a jar. In US you see the same type of connection between 2 people. One who is living and smart and the other who just physically exist with no soul.
The Goonies is about these kids going on an adventure underground just like Adelaide went back underground for an adventure and at the end Red said the same quote as Mikey did in The Goonies. Mikey said “Down here It’s our time It’s our time down here.” Red said “It’s our time It’s our time up there.”
C.H.U.D is about cannibals underground that start attacking people who live above ground. Pretty straight forward on its connection to US.
The meaning and significance of “Hands Across America” is at first confusing but then it makes sense. Hands Across America was a charity event in the 80’s where the country tried to create a human chain across the country by holding hands for the homeless where it’s message is that the homeless shouldn’t be forgotten. Red takes this concept and applies it to the Tethered basically saying the tethered shouldn’t be forgotten. They share the same message. I liked that.
The meaning of the scissors Jordan Peele explained before the film released. Scissors have duality meaning it’s made up of 2 identical parts. You have humanity and the tethered which equals duality.
I liked how the ending had me confused on who to give a fuck about. Should I feel sorry for Red (The Real Adelaide) or should I feel sorry for the Tethered Adelaide? I had to ask myself if I was in The Tethered’s position would I pull the switcharoo like PeeWee Longway? I think I would. The Tethered didn’t ask to be in the world. They were brought here then abandoned. But on the flip side Adelaide didn’t conduct the experiment nor was she aware because she was just a child. Her life was snatched from her for no reason but if her ass would’ve stayed put then she wouldn’t be in this mess. If I was in her position I would fuck up humanity too. I’m still conflicted on who to feel sorry for.
ANALYSIS AND THEORIES
It’s analysis and theory time kids….oooooooooohhhhhh.
So the clones are known as “The Tethered” and they’re a government experiment that was abandoned since it was discovered that people can be cloned physically but you cannot clone the soul. They live in underground and abandoned tunnels and that’s why we saw the quote about abandoned subways in the beginning of the film. This has connection to “Get Out” in a sense because in “Get Out” it’s possible that the government thought “Well if we can’t clone souls lets transfer souls into other bodies and let two souls share one body. It’s just a theory. I’m not saying its true. Just think it could be possible.
The Tethered spend their time mimicking the real people above and eating raw rabbits for food and that’s interesting because one of the first experiments with cloning rabbits were used and the daughter had a rabbit on her shirt in the film. The son also had a JAWS shirt which is a classic horror movie about something below coming to kill people on the surface. Brilliant and exceptional writing.
The twist in the film is that the REAL Adelaide whose name is “RED” was switched out with the Tethered Adelaide that night she wandered away from her father on the boardwalk so the whole movie we are watching from the Tethered Adelaide’s perspective. I literally sat in my car after the film and ran through everything that came to light after I found out the twist.
Adelaide has no fucking rhythm. That should’ve been a dead ass giveaway. Snaps was more off beat than a Silkk The Shocker rap.
The part where Adelaide was watching the spider crawl near the toy spider was beautiful foreshadowing.
Adelaide only ate strawberries at dinner. Adelaide didn’t eat meat most likely because she ate rabbits all the time when she was young.
Adelaide couldn’t talk as child which the therapist thought she had PTSD when in reality Tethered Adelaide didn’t know how to speak.
Red was the only one who could talk amongst the tethered so that was an indicator she was a real human plus her voice was raspier than a Jadakiss laugh because her vocal cords were crushed by tethered Adelaide when she was switched out. She never had her throat properly healed.
The Thriller shirt Kid Adelaide has is key because remember the end of the Thriller video the real Mike was gone and the Zombie Mike was present and took his place.
Adelaide freaks the fuck out when her son was gone for 10 seconds. She thinks he’s been switched out. She also was hesitant to go to Santa Cruz because she knows the real Adelaide Red wants revenge. Which explains why the other tethered people did not waste anytime killing the real humans. The white family was murdered in 3 seconds flat when their tethered clones saw them. Red is emotionally invested in this because she is human. She wants the tethered Adelaide to suffer slowly. She’s planned this moment for 30 years.
Red being the only person who can speak amongst The Tethered is interesting because there’s political symbolism in it. Whoever has the microphone the most in politics has the power. That’s why Red was the leader. Whatever she told them to do. They did. No questions asked and it didn’t matter if it made sense or not. Just like how people blindly follow politicians. They don’t care what the politician does, they will still follow.
The fact that every decision a human made in that world effected the tethered was really deep and made me realize that the things we appreciate big or small can cause someone else the greatest pain or happiness. For example Christmas can be the happiest time for me because I get to see my family but to another person Christmas could be hell because they hate their family or they lost someone in their family around Christmas or got into a horrible accident around Christmas that changed their life. Remember when Red told Adelaide at the beginning about how every time Adelaide got to eat on the surface meant Red had to eat raw rabbit flesh. Adelaide could be eating an ice cream sandwich and that don’t mean shit underground cause no matter what’s being eaten on the surface the tethered who are living underground are eating Buster Baxter from Arthur raw and uncooked. The decisions we make no matter how big or small effect somebody or something in this world. Some people prosper while other people suffer in an unfair world. A horror film made me think about that. That’s so fucking amazing dawg.
Now there is a theory that hints at the son Jason was also switched out at a previous family vacation which I kinda believe but kinda don’t. The reasons are….
Adelaide was heartbroken that the tethered son walked into the fire because she realized that the son we thought was tethered was her real son and she realized it.
The son was building a tunnel on the beach which hints at the fact he’s experienced tunnels.
The tethered son above ground learned the magic trick with the lighter and the real son who’s underground is playing with matches and severely burns himself and making him unable to speak and it’s possible that Red taught the tethered son how to speak while underground that’s why he’s not mute when he switches places and uses weird words.
Not saying the theory true but it’s something that makes you go hmmmmmmm???
THAT’S THAT SHIT I DON’T LIKE
OKAY DAMN THAT WAS A LOT. HERE’S WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE ABOUT THE FILM.
We didn’t really need to know the white family “The Tylers” they didn’t really do much for me. From a comedy aspect they were fine but as far as them being family friends we could’ve done without them. I didn’t care.
I really didn’t want to know how The Tethered became The Tethered. I didn’t want to know where they lived or why. Some people want and crave explanations and I’m not one of those people. When we first see The Tethered outside the house before they break in, we’re watching the film with the belief that this is an isolated situation and that it’s just gonna be this family vs it’s clones. Then you see immediately when The white family is murdered and you’re like “OH SHIT THERE’S MORE CLONES!” and you naturally think that Santa Cruz is fucking haunted. Then you see The Wilson’s turn on the news and see it’s a nationwide situation. After I saw all of America has been cloned I am good and no explanation is needed. Red was explaining everything through a voice over and I thought that was unnecessary and took some of the horror out of The Tethered.
It just felt like this huge information overload in such a small frame of time. It wasn’t needed. The Tethered are even creepier and scarier if you don’t know where they come from or why and it makes for better debates and theories. You would revisit the text about the subways and tunnels at the beginning of the film and use your imagination. I didn’t have to see how they escape to the surface or know the Government is behind this. It’s still interesting, I just think the film would’ve been a classic without it. Even the twist at the end I didn’t need to see Tethered Adelaide dragging Adelaide (Red) to the tunnel. Just show The Tethered Adelaide choking the real one and cut it right there and go right to the son being skeptical in the car looking at his mom wondering if she’s tethered or not. That hits harder because it makes you think.
I like my shit like the ending of Cowboy Bebop. We don’t know if Spike is dead or alive in Cowboy Bebop. I like that ambiguity. Thats something that has been debated for 20 years and that’s what makes that anime so fucking perfect. We don’t have an answer and that’s DELICIOUS!
Another thing that bothered me was the fact that Red was able to get un-cuffed but not able to find her way out of there. She has a brain and just couldn’t walk out? Then all of a sudden all of The Tethered are free? Which is why showing us where the tethered lived and how they came to be was a bad idea because now I’m able to poke holes in the overall story. Now that we’re told how and where The Tethered exist I start thinking about
How the fuck they get all them scissors?
How did all of them get the right size red jumpsuit and sandals?
How can The Tethered act with free will sometimes and other times they can’t?
How has there not been a Tethered sighting or anyone not switched out in over 30 years?
How did Red relay this message and instructions for The Tethered Hands Across America uprising across the country while being trapped underground?
Why is an entrance to places where failed government experiments took place unlocked and anyone can just walk through them? Why not just destroy them and hide it like the government has done with everything else for the past century?
If The Tethered’s job is to mimic it’s human counterpart then when Tethered Adelaide switches with the real Adelaide why does the mimicking switch places? Why do they switch roles? Why does the actual human have to mimic The Tethered after experiencing free will? Is it the placement that matters? Is it the fact that the person above ground is happier than the person underground and experiences a full life and that plays a part? I dunno it’s weird. Red is the one with the soul so shouldn’t she have the say on who mimics who?
The rabbits never running out didn’t bother me like it bothered the people I talked to about the film because rabbits reproduce fast as fuck so that many rabbits down there you know babies getting made. I was surprised there wasn’t more to be real.
Another thing that was really strange and maybe this is just me being a smart ass but the tethered are clones so they’re exact duplicates of the humans on the surface. Okay. Red explains to the family in her Marge Simpson voice that she gave birth to her kids in the underground world which makes ZERO sense biologically. The kids would not be exact doubles. They’d look different. Just take into account how sperm and egg and reproduction works. Yes this type of thinking is very nit picky. I know. It’s sad I admit. It’s the way I am.
FINAL THOUGHTS/RATING
This nigga Jordan Peele basically made this a two part movie. You watch it the first time thinking it’s from human Adelaide’s view then the second time you watch it you watch it knowing it’s from Tethered Adelaide’s view. Essentially you’re watching 2 different films. What the fuck. This shit is a MASTERPIECE. Fuck anybody who disagrees. Anybody who says US is a bad movie does not know film at all and they have shallow imaginations and shallow thinking. I guarantee you that. They’ll say shit like “The movie wasn’t scary” but that doesn’t make it a bad film. The movie really wasn’t scary. It was super tense and I rather have a super tense film than having Jordan Peele not showcase brilliant writing and directing and take the easy way out and just have a bunch of jump scares and The Tethered just kill everybody every second of the movie and blood and gore just take up every part of the movie. People have to stop looking at the film in the lens of Get Out because that’s what they’re comparing it to. They’re 2 totally different films. US is straight up suspense and horror. Get out is not. Ask anybody who said US was a bad film to read out loud or ask to see their iTunes library. I bet you they’ll shut the fuck up when you ask cause they can’t read and their music taste is basic as fuck.
There is so much to take from this film. It’s about identity. Hiding your past. Your choices. Duality. Jordan’s ability to merge Sci-Fi, Horror, Thriller, and suspense in his first 2 films is just so intelligent to me. I cannot wait to see his body of work in 20 years. I saw he’s getting the comparison to M.Night Shyamalan which is such bullshit because he’s better. Jordan’s first 2 films are better than M.Night’s first 4 films combined. M.Night ruined Airbender fuck that guy for eternity. Dude went on a 7 film losing streak. He’s overrated. Fuck outta here. Don’t ever compare that guy to the legend that is Jordan Peele.
Jordan Peele is no fluke. He’s the real deal. US is creepier than Get Out. I am addicted to this film. More addicted than I was to Get Out. US is not better than Get Out but I love talking to people about US and it’s meaning and hearing different perspectives. The debates are fun. The conversations are interesting. This film does not give you easy solutions and that’s what makes it addicting to me.
I’ll say this and I’ll finally shut the fuck up. Candyman is next. If Jordan Peele hits another home run with that remake I’m calling him The G.O.A.T. I’m not bullshitting. If Candyman is a classic then it’s time to go home. It’s like Vince Carter in the dunk contest. It’s over ladies and gentlemen. Pack it up. The best filmmaker in the world is a black man.
4.5 out of 5 Fruit Snacks
Peace
Follow us on twitter and instagram
@politeasflannel
@jayjaybenny
@politecoolery
Listen to the blog podcast Polite Coolery.
