THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
When you first heard that Jordan Peele would be directing a horror film, your eyebrows will likely be raised due to the man being a tour de force in sketch comedies. However, as you watch Get Out, you forget that he is the second half to Key and Peele.
PLOT
The film follows African photographer Chris Washington who is nervous about meeting the parents of his white girlfriend, Rose Armitage. When first entering the house of the family, he sees the odd behavior of their black servants. One night when attempting to smoke, he has a therapy session with Rose's mother Missy. She hypnotizes him and sinks him into a void called 'The Sunken Place'. The following morning, Chris doesn't want to smoke anymore. The same day, there is a get together with close friends to the Armitage Family. Chris then meets another African named Logan, but he also acts strange towards him. It is even awkward noticing he is married to an older white woman. When he takes a picture of him, a flash from the camera goes off and he acts aggressively, telling him to ‘get out’. Rose's father Dean claims that this was an act of a seizure, but Chris claims to Rose out of personal experience, that it's not the case. He is indeed frightened of what he's transpired and wants to leave; Rose decides to join him. As that conversation plays out, blind art dealer Jim Hudson has won a silent auction involving Chris. When Chris sends the picture of Logan to his friend Rod, a TSA agent, he reveals that they knew him, and his name is Andre. As Chris leaves, he discovers pictures of Rose with past black lovers, including the house servants. Rose reveals she is involved with their family's intentions before he is hypnotized by Missy again. Rod discovers that Andre's been missing for months and when he reports to the police what Chris has told him, they don't believe him. When being held captive, Chris discovers from a video presentation explaining that this family does brain transplants into others' bodies, granting a form of immortality. Hudson has a video chat with Chris also explaining that a host's consciousness remains in the Sunken Place, but will remain powerless. While its obvious that black people have been heavily targeted, Hudson is only concerned about having a new set of eyes. Chris does break out of captivity and kills both parents, including brother Jeremy. When taking a car to leave, the servant Georgina (possessed by grandma Marianne), gets in his way. He then crashes into a tree and survives, but Rose catches up with a rifle. He is also able to save himself from Walter (possessed by grandpa Roman) by using his flash from the phone again. Walter takes Rose's rifle and shoots her in her stomach, before taking his life. Chris attempts to strangle her but he chooses not to go on with it. It ends with him being saved by Rod and they leave as Rose bleeds from her wound.
THOUGHTS
I had low expectations for this film and within first viewing, I was blown away on how horrifying it is, yet impressed on the amount of comedy that's on display. But in multiple viewings, I am able to see the social commentary that Peele embraces. He's using a well worn narrative to needle a specific subset on racism, Liberals. When it comes to liberals, they're insistent of their non racism because they admire an abstract ideal of blackness, while not actually engaging any actual black people. Also, when seeing that black people can be stuck in the Sunken Place while the whites take over their bodies, it makes you also see it as an allegory. Discovering these themes is the true horror of this film. To top it off, the deers in this movie are depicted as the bad omen that occurs throughout. When one crashes into the car, this represents how things would go downhill. It's even a clever use of foreshadow of how Dean would die since he had open dislike for the animal. For someone who has seen the movie multiple times, I was impressed at myself to find some flaws for a movie that's almost perfect. The first flaw comes from the opening because I don't understand why didn't Andre take an uber/lyft to the exact address he was heading to, rather than walking there. He would've saved a lot of time and would've not gotten abducted. The second goes to the silent auction. That scene is intense mainly because Chris could pass by anytime and start questioning what's going on even more. The third flaw goes to Rod. If he was going to report about Andre, he should have shown the headlines of him being missing. Also, just because saying you're a TSA agent doesn't explain how he found Chris, no matter how funny/cool it sounds. Another one would be in the ending when Chris doesn’t take any evidence of the scene as he leaves. Yes you wanna be relieved that he’s escaping, but he should’ve taken pictures of proof of what was going on, in order to back up what he told Rod, and what Rod had told the police. The last flaw I can think of is also near the ending. When Chris uses his flash camera to bring Walter back, Rose does not take caution. Why would Rose forget about flash cameras bringing back the hosts? She saw it happen to Andre/Logan, so I don't believe that she would she forget something like that. Getting my criticism out of the way, I still think it's a well crafted original script by Peele. Knowing this, I was in joy seeing him win his Best Original Screenplay Oscar. I am relieved they didn't stick to the script's original ending because due to it being too depressing and it would've ruined the film's pacing, despite being the climax. Also, you know you have a good horror movie when you have a good ensemble. Daniel Kaluuya does indeed carry the film in Oscar nominated performance as Chris Washington. He is a man with guilt and fear all his life and he's never been more scared until what transpires. You truly feel that said guilt when it comes to the death of his mother and you can't blame him for wanting to save Georgina/Marianne. I personally believe that the scene in which he 'sinks' for the first time, is where he acts his heart out. Feeling that way, I also think that he and Catherine Keener play out the scene incredibly so, making it something to always get back to and appreciate, for their acting abilities. Lil Rel Howery is funny as hell with the role of Rod but thankfully, he is more than that. I thought it was genius for him to try to figure out what's going on and it is incredible that he happened to find his friend. His theory sounds hilarious, but it's crazy how it wasn't far off. Yes he could’ve done things differently, but I still respect his efforts because he still found his friend in the end, which is what mattered. I was also impressed on the parallel between both characters. The parallel on how Rod watching television while waiting for Chris, is just like how Chris described himself watching television when his mom didn't come home on time. That said scene is pretty amazing when realizing. Lakeith Stanfield, Marcus Henderson and Betty Gabriel are incredible playing both sides of a white persona taking over a black person's body, and the black people trying to break free. The Armitage Family (Catherine Keener's Missy, Bradley Whitford's Dean and Caleb Landry Jones' Jeremy) are each intimidating figures because of how they slowly show signs of their true intentions until the jig is up. Missy makes Chris quit smoking so that his body can be healthy for the host. Dean shares how his father almost got over losing the 1936 Berlin Olympics to Jesse Owens, little did we know that this inspired the Coagula. And Jeremy questions if he likes mixed martial arts to see if he will be difficult to fight before the procedure. But Allison Williams doesn't make you think twice about Rose as she keeps her cover throughout. The dual performance of this character is just insane. She goes from caring to unemotional in a heartbeat is just outstanding. She keeps her cover in such a clever way. She stands up to the officer who offends Chris not because he was racist, but because that way, no one would know he'd be in the area. That also backs up why she drove to her house and not him. She is the definition of a human predator because of she'll search for her next victim after one is lured to her home. I am against the idea of this movie to have a sequel/spinoff but if it were to happen, I wouldn't mind if it was about Rose because I believe her backstory could go places. To wrap up, Jordan Peele says what he has to say with Get Out while also bringing fresh air to cinema. If you want to find a horror movie that'll make you think, than this one will suit you.
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