7.2 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
A mother and a father take their kids to their beach house expecting to enjoy time with friends. But their serenity turns to tension and chaos when some visitors arrive uninvited.
Starring: Lupita Nyong'o, Winston Duke, Elisabeth Moss, Tim Heidecker, Shahadi Wright JosephHorror | 100% |
Mystery | 34% |
Thriller | 29% |
Psychological thriller | 24% |
Surreal | 14% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: Dolby Atmos
English: Dolby TrueHD 7.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
French: Dolby Digital Plus 7.1
Spanish: Dolby Digital Plus 7.1
English SDH, French, Spanish
Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (1 BD, 1 DVD)
Digital copy
DVD copy
Slipcover in original pressing
Region free
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 3.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Us is a Horror film with smarts and some teeth behind it. Writer/Director Jordan Peele, the mastermind behind 2017's superb Get Out, crafts a tale of suspense, violence, personalized terror, and large-scale frights, all with sharp social over- and undertones playing alongside. He builds an intimate, personal portrait of longstanding fright that clashes with a far flung yet creepily believable vision of something far bigger and far more sinister. That balance between personally connected terror and the unravelling of the world around makes for an effective juxtaposition that Peele explores in hypnotic cadence, slowly but surely unveiling new realities and revelations with each new scene.
Us makes its Blu-ray debut with a pleasing 1080p transfer. It's true to its digital roots, offering a steady, stable textural output and well-rounded colors. The picture reveals tightly defined skin textures with ease, finding pores, lines, scruff, and scars with commendable complexity and just about as much sharpness as the 1080p resolution allows. Environmental details are firm and pleasing, whether a 1980s carnival, home interiors, or several key daytime locations. Overall image clarity and stability rate as excellent. Colors are another strong point. Much of the film takes place at night, but colors hold bright and accurate. Carnival lights glow nicely against perfectly deep nighttime blacks in the film's opening sequence, though blacks appear a bit elevated when Adelaide enters the hall of mirrors. The red outfits the Tethered wear are dense and deep and foreboding. During a key daytime scene late in the film, flames burn with appropriate color intensity and surrounding elements appear bold. Skin tones are accurate to actor complexion. A bit of low-light noise lingers for much of the movie, but there are no other immediately concerning source or encode issue of note.
Us' Dolby Atmos soundtrack is up to the challenge of delivering the film's fairly intense and involved sonic landscape. There is a natural feel for atmospheric details at the carnival. Plenty of one-off discrete effects pepper the listening area but give way to less dynamic sounds as Adelaide wanders off down towards the beach. The track features many involved moments that offer a harmonious compilation of musical and sound effect sincerity. Discrete details and well engineered sound movements help shape a number of scenes, whether those which are immediately violent or those portending fear and violence. The track makes use of every channel in an effort to fully draw the listener in, which includes sounds such as splatters of blood flinging against surfaces and bloody droplets dripping from walls. The track's ability to fine tune and finely place its sound details create a full, capable atmosphere that perfectly compliments the film's frightening cadence. Bass is aggressive but not dominant. Overhead channels offer little in the way of discrete details but do help better define the larger world around the characters. Dialogue is clear and center focused. It is always well prioritized.
Us contains a handful of featurettes (which are a little more meaty than the typical ~2 minute Universal throwaways) and a few deleted
scenes. A DVD copy of the film and a Movies Anywhere digital copy code are included with purchase. This release ships with an embossed
slipcover.
Peele's ideas open many avenues of thought, and he smartly leaves much of it to the viewer to extrapolate the bigger picture in play. The tale opens up endless possibilities for thought exercise, concerning both the narrative strokes and the thematic issues the film raises in a not-so-subtle but not-so-overt manner. It's very well balanced, generously thoughtful, and impressively crafted and performed. Universal's Blu-ray release of Us delivers high yield video and audio presentations. Several extras are included. Highly recommended.
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Unrated Collector's Edition
2007
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60th Anniversary Edition
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