InUs, Jordan Peele’s much-anticipated 2019 follow-up to 2018’sGet Out, a family on vacation is stunned to find creepy doppelgangers, and the ending is just as fascinating as the entire story. The movie has strong performances from Lupita Nyong’o and Winston Duke as married couple Adelaide and Gabe Wilson who are trying to figure out what’s going on alongside their kids Jason (Evan Alex) and Zora (Shahadi Wright Joseph).
Ushas a shocking ending that proves Peele’s movies are as unsettling as they are intelligent, and it’s interesting to break down the ending of one of the most entertaining and perceptive horror movies of the 2010s.
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What Is The Twist Ending Of Us?
WhileJordan Peele hasn’t toppedGet Out, the twist ending ofUsis a great example of how to surprise audiences and craft a smart and compelling final act.
The ending ofUsreveals that Adelaide is actually Red, her Tethered clone. Audiences learn that when Adelaide was a child, she came across Red in the hall of mirrors at the boardwalk in Santa Cruz, which is the haunting and memorable opening scene. Red knocked Adelaide out so she could take over her life, becoming one of the mostunderappreciated 2010s horror villainswho are cunning and smart.
TheUsending also has a memorable moment between Red and Jason (Evan Alex), as they look at each other while “Adelaide” is driving the car. Fans thought this meant that Jason was aware that Adelaide wasn’t herself and that the Tethered clone Red has been here all along. This is a powerful idea, as this would mean that Jason isn’t actually scared of this concept, which is surprising.
While fans thought that Jason could be a Tethered clone as well, Peele toldThe Hollywood Reporterthat his idea of Jason is different. He that Jason is smart and perceptive: “I have this kinda concept of Jason that he can sorta see through the veil. you may see these moments where he’s observing his mother and he’s meant to be a little step ahead of us, the most clever of us that’s sorta figuring out there’s something more to Adelaide’s story than we see.”
What Is The Hands Across America Scene?
The final scene ofUssees the Tethered clones holding hands in Santa Roza and forming this “human chain” that was inspired by the real-life Hands Across America. This event took place on May 25th, 1986 and millions of people held hands. The event was meant to raise money for charities that focus on poverty, homelessness, and hunger.
According to History.com, Ken Kragen came up with the event and wanted people to donate between $50 million and $100 million. 400 people were involved in the organization of the event, which took nine months to figure out. However, according to Buzzfeed, there were parts of Arizona and Arkansas that had holes in the chain, and people used livestock, ribbons, and buses to try to fill those in.
Ushas asatisfying horror movie endingand it was smart to include imagery based on Hands Across America since this speaks to the message of the movie: that people often think that there is a simple solution to a complex problem, but that isn’t true at all. It also says something profound about how people often think that they know what’s best for others when they don’t really understand what’s going on at all.
What Inspired Jordan Peele To Make Us?
Jordan Peele talked about his inspiration for Us in his2019 Rolling Stone cover story. He said that he figured out the movie for six months and then wrote it for six months, and he was inspired by “Mirror Image,” theTwilight Zoneepisode that aired in 1960. Peele told Rolling Stone of the episode, “It’s terrifying, beautiful, really elegant storytelling, and it opens up a world. It opens up your imagination."
The hall of mirrors inUsis one of the mostmemorable Jordan Peele scenesand it’s cool to learn how it came about. “Mirror Image” is about Millicent Barnes (Vera Miles) and opens with the character about to take the bus from New York City to Cortland because she’s going to start work. She realizes that something strange is happening when she notices what looks like her purse next to the bus driver, which is odd since she thought that she had it with her. When she uses the washroom, she sees a version of herself still sitting on the bench.
The story follows both Millicent and Paul Grinstead (Martin Milner) who realize that there are other versions of them who look identical walking around and living. This is definitely a haunting storyline and Peele added social commentary and a political element to his Tethered clones inUs. The government created these clones so they could be in charge, but since they don’t have souls, things didn’t work out the way that they were planned. Since life rarely follows an easy path and that is certainly true of politics as well, this is brilliant.
Ushas a great creepy atmospherethanks to the concept of doppelgängers, which is used brilliantly. By the time that it’s clear that the audience thought they were watching Adelaide and it was actually Red this entire time, Peele has crafted another scary and intelligent story about identity, community, and family.
What Did Jordan Peele Say About Us?
Adelaide is one of thebest horror movie main charactersand it’s interesting to learn more about the inspiration behind the movie, particularly the meaning behind the title.
In a 2019 interview withNPR, Jordan Peele explained,, “one of the reasons this movie has an expansiveness is because ‘us’ is subjective. Everybody thinks of the term ‘us’ in different ways — it can be ‘us’ the family, ‘us’ the town, ‘us the country, ‘us’ humanity. I think in the simplest form, the very nature of ‘us’ means there is a ‘them,’ right? So that is what this movie is about to me, is that: Whatever your ‘us’ is, we turn ‘them’ into the enemy, and maybe ‘we’ are our own worst enemy.”
