Us (2019)

Well, that movie was creepy as hell. I mean, I had read spoilers online back when it came out, so I knew what the deal was with the Tethered, and specifically Red and Adelaide.  I do have some questions about it, like when there stopped being any monitoring of the Tethered, how the situation with the children would work out in that case, how exactly the Tethered seem so much more nimble, strong, and athletic than everyone else. I can chalk that last one up to being crazy, I guess.

Even so, this movie still creeps me out. The Tethered are just so unnerving. How their eyes seem so wide open you'd think they'd forgotten, or forgone, the ability to blink. The mostly inarticulate noises they make, although Red's raspy voice is even worse. Talking sounds so painful for her. The big smiles, the weird aping of people's mannerisms.

Although I laughed pretty hard when Kitty reached up to take "Bad Josh's" hand, and he did that move where you pull your hand back and run it through your hair, like some evil preppy guy from an '80s teen movie.

The goal of the Tethered, and their means to achieve it, which I am trying to avoid spoiling if you haven't seen it because you should watch it, seems a little cockeyed. But then I remember the circumstances of the one who came up with the plan, and it makes a little more sense. They wouldn't know it didn't work the first time around.

Lupita Nyong'o and Winston Duke are both great in this in different ways. Duke's character of Gabe is just such a clueless dork - like a '90s sitcom dad - that it's kind of hilarious. The movie keeps setting up these moments where you think, "He's got it right this time, he's gonna do this and look cool," and then blows it (the scene with the flare gun). But he comes through anyway, somehow. He's kind of a dork, but he's resourceful and determined in his way.

Nyong'o moves so effectively between sheer terror and frantic, fierce determination. You can see those fight or flight battles going on in Adelaide's mind, the exact moment where fight takes control and she starts swinging. Red, conversely, is this mix of certainty and glee. She's enjoying what she's doing to Adelaide's family, but she's also so sure that what's she's created is the right thing to do, the necessary thing.