These days I rarely find too much surprising in thrillers. Sure, I can turn my brain off and enjoy the ride, but it’s hard to find something genuinely surprising, and more so, an interesting movie on the second watch.
Get Out deserves every accolade it got, and everyone it was nominated for by achieving both above, with quality dripping from minute to minute.
Get Out tells the story of a young black man, Chris, who goes with his girlfriend, Rose, to meet her white family. The reason I mentioned race is because so much of the movie spends time around the weird interactions families can have with a partner of another race.
Now I am the last person to be able to talk about experiences as a non-white person form America, but its references are universal. Such as the super uncomfortable, and super believable comment “I would have voted for Obama for a third term if I could have”.
But the use of these moments aren’t what make the movie great, it’s the way it uses these uncomfortable moments to hide plot points.
I’m not going to touch any more of the plot, because it is outstanding, and you deserve to witness it first-hand. But every twist I thought of, didn’t touch the actual ending of the film, and that’s where I’ll end that.
Though I wouldn’t recommend trying to prove me wrong by guessing it, as you’ll only hurt yourself.
The hidden clues early on that are exposed by the ending, make subsequent viewings much more enjoyable. Even on my third watch, there are moments I noticed for the first time that meant so much more on that viewing. I’m not going to say the Jordan Peele is clever for this, I am going to say he’s a genius.
To take his idea, to turn it into an excellent script, and then direct this masterpiece to completion, is a testament to Jordan Peele’s talent. When you think about how before this he was most well known for a comedy skit show, and a sweating gif that I have used multiple times, it’s that much more impressive.
The talented cast, especially Daniel Kaluuya in the lead role, certainly helps drive this home. On the first viewing, there were times I thought there was poorly acted scenes, especially Caleb Landry Jones as the creepy brother overdoing it. But again, upon a later viewing, there are reasons for each of these moments, and they get better every time.
Take some hypnosis, subtle racism, and some twisted ideas, and somehow you have one of the movies of the year. A movie that isn’t only outstanding the first time you see it but offers so much more in subsequent viewings. You are doing yourself a disservice to not watch Get Out as soon as you possibly can.
Get Out is available for streaming on NEON