Review of Get Out (2017) by Engelbert R — 05 Nov 2017

99%? I'm about 99% certain this film is trash.

The glowing reviews for this film really do baffle the mind. I understand that it's satire, I understand there's a message about race, but does that mean it warrants such a good reception? It's almost as if people have convinced themselves this is a good movie just because it deals with race.

Lets start with some positives first - Kaluuya does well to remain tasteful in this otherwise utterly ridiculous film, unlike the rest of the cast he's grounded and most importantly believable. Also, given that he's an English actor, this role has to be out of his comfort zone, so credit where credit is due - he's a bright spark in an otherwise awful film.

Now the bad -.

To actually hear that people think this film is 'great' is genuinely astounding. To the people who think this film is good, I'd like to ask them what they actually think is good about it?

Was it really a challenge for Peele to satirise the Horror genre? A genre notorious for its poor writing, acting, character motives and well worn cliches? Is it really admirable to mimic a terrible film that well that it appears to be genuinely terrible? I wouldn't say it is. Not at all.

This is not a good horror film, it's surprising anyone but an extremely casual cinema goer would think that is - it's an intentionally bad horror film, hence the fact it's called satire. The ridiculous premise, over the top cliche script/characters, acting and cinematography make this all too obvious. So for those of you who enjoyed this as a horror film, I have to ask how? How can people enjoy bad acting, cliche writing and obvious jump scares if they call themselves genuine horror fans? The answer is that genuine horror fans don't like this film. The only way you can enjoy this under the lens of the horror genre is that it's ironically bad. The horror motifs in this film are purposely bad - over the top acting from the 'grandparents' who you assume are brainwashed from the off, the evil brother whose acting is god awful, the over the top/obvious cinematography (such as the repeated close ups on the tea cup during the hypnotism scene), the body snatchers trope - not one single horror motif is new or carried out well in this film. It is all purposely bad. So for those of you who genuinely enjoyed this as a horror film - you are basically objectively wrong by the director's standards and his intentions.

How can any kind of atmosphere be built when something is so ridiculous and cliche? It can't. The point about cliche is that its been used so often that it's lost its effect. How can the filmmaker expect to build tension when nothing can be taken seriously about its horror conventions? The fact that people are comparing Peele to Hitchcock is blatantly absurd in light of this. I found myself laughing out loud at almost every scene in this film because it was so purposely terrible, so cliche, because the script was awful and poorly delivered. No genuine horror fan would find this film tense or frightening, nor would they find it refreshing in terms of its conventions which are satirical and purposely cliche and therefore have no effect unless used wisely and sparingly.

The only unusual or remotely unique aspect about this film is how it 'explores' race. In other words, in order to enjoy this film, you can't enjoy it as a horror film - not unless you enjoy shoddy acting and a cliche script/storyline, or unless you're a complete hipster who wants to enjoy a film that's ironically bad - but it isn't and achievement to make something that's purposefully bad unless you can create something intentionally good in the first place, and that's much more of a challenge.

So to enjoy this as a horror film you have to be extremely resilient to worn out cliche/tropes that are barely renewed with race plastered over the top of them, or you have to understand that this film is purposely awful and enjoy that ironically.

So if you are a film buff to take this as a serious piece of art that isn't only a massive cliche that is almost terrible in every regard, you have to like what it says about race.

At first, though I didn't see eye to eye with the director in terms of his intended message, I didn't think the message was genuinely bad. Having thought about it more the message - that liberal whites who like black people, black culture and sympathise with black social issues, are actually a problem - I think it's a pretty poor message for several reasons.

I understand very liberal people will scoff at anyone's disapproval of that message as being borne out of white privilege, but I'm sorry, you can't just dismiss people's lived experience like that, it's just alienating to do so. That said, I imagine very liberal people will have very little time for any white person who's alienated by this film's message and herein lies the problem. But at a time when the US is fraught with genuine racism, the film's message seems frivolous at best. In fact I sympathise with people who've commented here that this kind of criticism can be construed as divisive and counter productive.

I've always cringed at the alt-right use of the word 'cuck', but when I see the way this garbage film has been lapped up just because it deals with race and liberal white people well I have to kind of agree with the premise. After all, the white people who love this film must clearly agree with the message and enjoy deriding people who aren't even genuinely racist.

Some people might argue that liberal white moderates are a problem because they agree with the issues black people face but aren't intent on making it their cause - I'd argue that alienating those people is only going to make it worse. While I don't think this film is put across in a serious enough manner to do that, I can't agree with the message it puts across. Critics must take the message that seriously though - because when you look at the film as a whole, the racial aspect of this film is the only thing that can be given any kind of weight.

That said, I just can't agree with the message. Morally I could passionately get behind Django shooting the men that violently oppressed him, but not the idea that misplaced admiration for black people is evil or even particularly harmful on any meaningful level.

So to cap it all off, I'm sorry, but I think this film doesn't deserve anything like the ratings its received. I'm sure half of you think people like me have either missed the point or that I must be a big scary racist. I didn't miss the point. The film is purposely terrible and its message is supposed to be its saving grace. In actuality its message is quite controversial and I believe that some critics only think this film is good because they agree with the message, others are probably afraid to call it for the trash that it is because there is a pressure to agree with the premise of the film or else some people will assume you're ignorant or bigoted on some level. Sorry, but I'm not bigoted, I'm a moderate white liberal and I'm calling this film what it is - rubbish.

In short, nothing about this film is brilliant. It doesn't deserve its plaudits.