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MOVIE REVIEW: FTN reviews Get Out

March 7th, 2017 by Irwin Fletcher Comments

Get Out (18)
Directed by: Jordan Peele
Starring: Daniel Kaluuya, Allison Williams & Bradley Whitford
Running time: 1hr 43mins

A young African-American man visits his Caucasian girlfriend’s mysterious family estate in this edge of your seat horror/thriller/comedy movie directed by Jordan Peele.

In the last year or so horror has once again evolved into something new – as happened with Scream, then with Blair Witch, Horror, thanks to such stunning entries such as The Witch, Don’t Breathe and Green Room is finding itself evolving once more into something that (well, maybe not so with The Witch) once again draws on the everyday and the extraordinary situations we can find ourselves in.

As is the case with the superb Get Out in which comedian Jordan Peele has managed to create an extremely tense, nail biting movie where it’s still ok to laugh at the situation that the protagonist is faced with thanks to the comedic relief of the awesome Rod Williams, played by LilRel Howery. Because life isn’t just one thing, but rather a elaborate roller coaster of fear, horror, humour and laughs, all of which are presented here in ferocious style.

This movie feels fresh on a lot of levels. Horror movies in recent memory, with the exception of the new emerging tittles named above, seem to be very bland, with plenty of recycled content that we have all seen before, backed by a story that is non-existent and a cast who auditioned for their role in the local town hall.

However, Get out is different.

It doesn’t take itself too seriously and it knows exactly what it wants to be, which sets it aside to most others.

With very powerful performances from the entire cast, the story sees Chris (Kaluuya) and his girlfriend, Rose (Williams), set off on a weekend to meet Rose’s family, whom Chris worries might be, well, racist because Chris is black while Rose is white, however the interesting thing about this plot is that, while it is very much insinuated that it is a case of “racist family doesn’t like black boyfriend” as the main point, it’s actually much more… complicated. Jordan Peele has created a story (without giving away spoilers) that flips the racism card on its head masterfully.

Don’t get me wrong, the movie has some negatives; It’s fairly easy for the average viewer to see where it’s going from about the halfway mark, but it still doesn’t take away from the intriguing plot. There is a twist in the last 20 minutes that, again, is foreseeable a mile away, but ultimately isn’t the main point or drive of the story.

Overall the movie is very enjoyable and definitely a first of its kind: I’ve read recently that Jordan Peele has four more “Social thriller” stories that he wants to tell in the next decade and, should they deliver in the same way that Get Out does, they’ll be welcomed outings indeed.

4 out of 5 nerds

I'm an LA journalist who really lives for his profession. I have also published work as Jane Doe in various mags and newspapers across the globe. I normally write articles that can cause trouble but now I write for FTN because Nerds are never angry, so I feel safe.