Review of Us (2019) by Jgl274 — 04 Apr 2019

I felt it fitting that my first ever review of a movie be this one. I simply could not let it lie the disappointment I felt once the credits began to roll. Although the relief was equally welcomed. What makes it worse is the disparity in review scores between your average movie goer and the "professional" critics. There seems to be a clear delusion that I can only assume is influenced by other external factors as opposed to sheer honesty and merit. This film holds its own, briefly, at the beginning. A small prologue of events paves the way for several minutes of mystery and curiosity of what is to come. This very quickly leads forward to the scene, everyone has seen in the trailers, where there "is a family on the driveway". From then onwards it spirals into a tornado of flawed plot holes and complete identity crisis. I sincerely felt as if the film had a complete meltdown and had no idea what it wanted to give to me. The characters fall short of providing any form of adrenaline inducing horror and, on more than several occasions, become laughable. Caveman noises, and screeching like dinosaurs, is about as odd as it gets. If I had shut my eyes, I would have been convinced I had gone back to 1993 to watch Jurassic Park for the first time. I specifically remember the part where Winston Dukes character has a tumble with his shadowy counterpart, pulls himself out of the lake onto his boat, and stops with just one foot dangling into the murky abyss thus allowing his attacker to leap from the water and carry on his assault (Surprise!) .... The comedic gasp from the movie screen echoed as if to say, "Are you kidding me with this cliché rubbish that has been done to absolute death". From that point I felt the audience, in unison, switched off. I certainly did.

The stronger performances were overshadowed by the flat storyline which struggles to gain any traction for the best part of 80% of the movie. This ultimately leads onto the most glaringly obvious “twist” I have ever witnessed. You wouldn’t need Holmes along for the ride to figure this one out. A lot was left unexplained and not in a good way, in the way where you think “what was the point”. Plenty could have been sacrificed to offer a more reinforced backstory and offer the depth this tale so desperately needed. I genuinely had high hopes for this movie. I really wanted to like it and love it. And I persevered throughout but the inevitable white flag moment came and, once the movie ended, I was happy to surrender back to reality, somewhat deflated at the missed opportunity.

The cast deserved much more from the narrative, and direction, to support and showcase their skills but unfortunately it was not meant to be. I seriously doubt I would watch this a second time as I feel there is nothing more that can be offered. If you are on your way to watch this then I recommend you lower your expectations to allow for a modicum of enjoyment, otherwise choose something else.