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The latest from Jordan Peele following Get Out. Starring Lupita Nyong'o and Winston Duke. Looks like great, scary fun!

 
seeing this on Friday :disco: I didn't love Get Out but I think this night be more my thing
 
RATHER GOOD. Lupita N’yongo playing about 10 years older than she is, but she’s undoubtedly the star, playing it brilliantly. It was predictable in parts but it’s so well directed compared to most of the crap Horror/Thrillers around these days that you forgive some of the cliches.

The end left it open without explanation - any talk of a sequel?

8/10
 
It was ALRIGHT, but not as good as “Get Out” by far...
 
Thought this was a right mess

Excellent first half hour. Tension was built superbly well. It all went to shit as soon as the doubles appeared. As a home invasion horror it wasn't sufficiently scary and the decision to split everyone up and go off with their double didn't seem to serve any purpose whatsoever.

Elisabeth Moss' character was properly brilliant and I wish she'd had more to do. Lupita was sensational, especially in the dance scenes match cut with the ballet where she's unable to land the killer blow - really beautifully shot. The little scene with Lupita going out to find her daughter's double in the tree was unexpectedly touching. But narratively it was a fail - did it want to make a bigger comment, or was it happy to be a high-brow (ish) survival flick? It didn't seem to know. That "we're Americans!" line was such an eye roller.

I was entertained, but as with Get Out the ending was not satisfactory and the hype is not wholly earned. The frustrating thing is he's clearly very skilled as a director but hasn't yet earned his stripes as a storyteller to make a really great film.

And if one more film attempts to package a "shocking twist" out of...

...the good/original half of the double surviving and then being revealed as ACTUALLY THE EVIL/ALTERNATE (Alien: Covenant anyone?)...

...bitches will surely be cut. 6/10
 
It was enjoyable, I liked the message, but it wasn’t tense or scary at all.
 
I enjoyed this, the year has been terrible for new movies that this felt like a breath of fresh air.

Lupita was great but there were a few too many plot holes. I also spent a lot of the movie thinking she was too young.
 
It was enjoyable, I liked the message, but it wasn’t tense or scary at all.

This - it was very funny throughout and a great message, but I do think advertising it as a horror is misleading. The overarching question about the haves vs have-nots was the real pay-off here, not the supposed tension and scares.
 
I thought it was better when the terror was fixated purely on the one family. When it went all Bird Box it kind of lost me a bit.

+1 for Winston Duke's lovely meaty thighs though.
 
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What is the message

For me it was the idea that the middle/upper class live a privileged life while everyone else suffers. There was a large emphasis towards the start of the film about material possessions, even right up to when Elizabeth Moss' family are killed and their Alexa fails them. The protagonist's main fear seemed to having everything she had taken away from her. There was also the notion that this hierarchical system of living was organised by the government ("did you know the governments put fluoride in our toothpaste?") to keep people in place.
 
if there was a message (I'm not convinced) I certainly don't think it was THAT

to me this is not a film about class at all. the snobby rich neighbours were just included for comedy value, and it's not like we were meant to think the family were broke or anything - they have a nice holiday house and the dad just bought a speedboat! The "Ophelia" gags were just there for an easy laugh, I thought.
 
I have seen Suomi's take elsewhere when I've gone looking for the intent behind this. But I dunno, these things often go over my head.

I'd say I need to have elements of half the films I see explained to me after. I'm not thick, I just have a wandering mind and am a bit thick
 
if there was a message (I'm not convinced) I certainly don't think it was THAT

to me this is not a film about class at all. the snobby rich neighbours were just included for comedy value, and it's not like we were meant to think the family were broke or anything - they have a nice holiday house and the dad just bought a speedboat! The "Ophelia" gags were just there for an easy laugh, I thought.

No, the main family were not broke, but that's the point. They had a lot, and yet there were constant references to the fact that they still didn't have quite what the other family had. Theres a subtle warring within classes that the film illustrated, then constrasting that with the lowest classes (the Tethered)

I don't really see how you can question whether this film had even a message at all - we haven't even mentioned Hands Across America yet!
 
When tethered Adelaide said "we're Americans", the impression I got was that, no matter what we have or don't have, everyone is the same. As for the end, I have no idea.

I look forward to seeing more of Jordan Peele in the future.
 
I was going to go to this but after watching the trailer i decided not to go after all. I felt the trailer revealed far too much. Of course I could be totally wrong.
 
I loved this despite it having a few flaws and a bit of a crappy final act. It's one of those rare horror films that still lingered in mind afterwards, plus i love that it was set in Santa Cruz which is one of my favourite places in California.
 
Didn’t watch the trailer and though I knew there was an element about ‘doubles’ I didn’t know anything about how it would play out. I thought this was superb. I disagree with people saying it wasn’t scary - I was tense throughout the entire parts of the two houses being invaded (I am terrified of home invasion movies generally - they are by far the scariest sub-genre of horror for me).

The direction was so stunning. The number of references to pairs and doubles I spotted was amazing, and i reckon I only caught half of them. It was this constant reminder that something was coming for the first half an hour.

And as for performances: I thought all the main family were excellent but Lupita N’yongo’s performance was absolutely extraordinary. The voice she created - I don’t know how much of that was her or if there was any post-production. It was so unique and to me completely chilling especially when you realised why it was like that. She won’t be but if I had my way she’d be up for an Oscar. It was such a demanding performance in every way.

I ummed and aahed between 9 and 10 - I slightly agree with VOR it worked better for me when it was just the family being attacked so I’m giving it a 9 for that reason alone.

And how refreshing was it to see a black family (not an interracial family) as the lead in a horror movie, without comment at all. (Ironically I’m commenting on it now - but I honestly can’t remember a horror movie EVER having a whole black family as the leads.)
 
if there was a message (I'm not convinced) I certainly don't think it was THAT

to me this is not a film about class at all. the snobby rich neighbours were just included for comedy value, and it's not like we were meant to think the family were broke or anything - they have a nice holiday house and the dad just bought a speedboat! The "Ophelia" gags were just there for an easy laugh, I thought.

The film is entirely about class - or at least the idea of the haves and the have nots. Like it’s not even up for debate...! (As someone just said, it’s hardly subtle - but I didn’t mind the unsubtlety at all).
 
just saw this and hated it with a passion. i thought the acting, especially the son and lupita, was astonishingly poor. and yes, i know a lot of people thought otherwise.

as peekaboo said it was painfully unsubtle, there were so many stupidly handled plot glitches and illogical actions that the final twist didn't have any impact at all. seriously, we were half agog, half laughing at how bad lupita was. i was actually wondering if it wasn't purposefully done and i guess in a way it was but she was super irritating and even her shadow version was overcooked most of the time.

overall i think the direction was the biggest flaw as the idea and the message (privilege and class blatantly) were really strong if you suspend disbelief. i didn't even know about hands across america so i thought it was a nice touch but if i had i probably would've given it as an example of how heavy handed it was.
 

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