Us Review: 6 Ups & 3 Downs

2. Jordan Peele's Surprisingly Messy Script

Easily the biggest issue with Us - or at least, its most divisive aspect - will be Jordan Peele's script, which while undeniably detailed and ambitious, doesn't feel remotely as water-tight as his Oscar-winning script for Get Out.

For starters, character and narrative logic is rather inconsistent throughout, and only increases as the pic's overlong 116-minute run-time trundles along.

Peele arguably gives his big conceit away a little too early, while a later section of the movie flatly over-explains details which would've been so much better left ambiguous.

And there's also one big reveal that's sure to split viewers right down the middle, if only because Peele eschews subtlety altogether and telegraphs it with an unexpected aggressiveness.

Us isn't a badly written movie by any means, but it does ultimately feel like a less-coherent jumble of intriguing yet half-baked ideas that don't really add up to a satisfying whole.

Needless to say, it's unlikely Peele will be repeating his prior Oscar love next year.