Us (2019) ***1/2

With 2017's "Get Out," Jordan Peele put the world on notice that he was a storyteller to be reckoned with. With his second feature, “Us,” he threatens to extend that into a streak.

The Wilsons are a typical, American family. Adelaide (Lupita Nyong'o), Gabe (Winston Duke), Zora (Shahadi Wright Joseph), and Jason (Evan Alex) are visiting a family vacation home. Everything is beautiful, but there is an undercurrent of dread. This is partly because the movie started with a scene about 25 years earlier of a young Adelaide having a terrifying experience of running into her exact double. This traumatic experience left the little girl temporarily mute, but she has clearly overcome the experience, as the grown-up Adelaide seems totally normal. Returning to the beach where she had that creepy run-in so long ago has her on edge, however. She asks to cut the vacation short, but before they can leave, Jason announces that “there's a family in the driveway.” There sure is, a family that looks identical to the Wilsons, and they aren't there to welcome them to the neighborhood.

Before this night of terrifying home invasions is over, we learn that everyone is America has a doppelganger. These speechless doubles have been living in underground tunnels, spending their lives crudely aping the actions of their twins on the surface. Now they have climbed out of their holes to claim their place in the sun.

The plot doesn't make much sense if you think about it at all, so it's best to just go with it. If you just accept what you see on the screen, it's a fun, scary film, with just the right amount of humor sprinkled in. The movie is paced right, and the performances are excellent. Shahadi Wright Joseph particularly stands out as a young actress to watch.

Most critics feel that “Us” isn't quite as good as “Get Out.” I would agree, but “Us” is still an excellent movie. Both films can be enjoyed as straight horror, but don't hold up well to literal analysis. They are best appreciated as allegory. “Get Out” was Jordan Peele's parody of black people's fear about white people, that even the most liberal of us are secret racists who want to enslave black people again. It's an exaggeration, but I imagine it draws from some real suspicions that some black people have. “Us” flips the script. It's cleverly done, because the main characters are black, but “Us” is clearly exploring the anxiety of white Americans. The allegory is that America is built on top of an exploited underclass, a class of people who may someday rise up and try to take what white people have. Once again, it's an exaggeration of existing fears. There's also the theme of class, the idea that living right near us are people very much like us, living in poverty. At one point, Adelaide asks her twin, “What are you?”, to which the twin replies, “We're Americans.” It's a somewhat heavy-handed way to say that even in this wealthy country, there are people living in squalor. Who are these people who have nothing? Jordan Peele says they are Us.

3.5 stars out of 5