“Therefore thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will bring evil upon them, which they shall not be able to escape; and though they shall cry unto me, I will not hearken unto them.” – Jeremiah 11:11

Jordan Peele’s sophomore film is a haunting tale about two very different lives. The perfect, carefree lives humans choose to lead versus the painful and destructive lives that will eventually creep through. There’s a duality, we are all tethered to the worst version of ourselves but still manage to hold ourselves together in order to navigate life. However, we as humans, forget that there is a higher being and that we are living on a planet that is slowly dying because of us.

This film is filled with materialistic banter between men and women. There is a focus on competition…. meanwhile there are greater things to think about in the world. The world is filled with necessary distractions because many of us do not want to face what is happening in the world. Hence… leading two different lives. One that is absolutely terrified about what’s coming and the other that is taking it at face value. This is the overall theme of the film and is very obvious in the first half.

The second half, however, throws all of that out the window to focus on the internal struggle of their characters. In particular, Lupita Nyong’o’s character, Adelaide Wilson. It is a fantastic character piece for Lupita and she was incredible in both roles. It focuses on childhood trauma and then flips the concept on its head. Winston Duke was the comic relief and had great timing! I actually loved him in this and I hope other people continue to appreciate him!

The film overall was a solid thriller and had some wonderful visuals. I loved that Peele paid homage to “The Shining” throughout this film with the ambient noises, twins and that final aerial shot. The opening credits were different and the score throughout was phenomenal.

There were some questionable choices that he made and this film almost felt like two different pieces combined into one. He started in one spot and then ended in another. I don’t know how to feel about it, all I know is that this was a great second time out!