Us 2019

[The following review contains spoilers for Us. Please watch the film first before reading.]

After giving a breakthrough Get Out, Jordan Peele raises the bar with Us. First of all, Us is a political film more than a thriller. Like Get Out, the evil mastermind in Us is people with authority.

Us is about evil doppelgängers trying to take over us, so there are many symbols with double meaning throughout the film. Thriller t-shit, Jaws t-shirt, and even Whac-A-Mole game at boardwalk fun fair all foreshadow the evil is coming from underground. The scissor is another symbol of duality with both mirror sides sticking together. Long shadows casted by the Wilsons' when they are walking on the beach also tell us their counterparts, the Tethered, are there all along.

The film also makes use of government conspiracy theories about abandoned underground government labs to give rational base for the plot. Just like some politicians on the ground keeps saying the immigrants is the reason for US's downfall, but it could be the dark scheme orchestrated by the government itself causing all kinds of problem. To better understand the metaphors in Us, is to understand the politics in US right now.