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Get Out: A Different Review

For me, lacking.

By Liam BatesPublished 7 years ago 3 min read
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When I first saw the trailer for this film, what must have been several months ago, as the result of what I seem to recall was quite an insistent online marketing campaign, I was decidedly unimpressed. In the interest of full disclosure, I'm not a huge fan of horror films and, although Get Out's trailer presented at least a hint of something novel, the general impression I took away was one of the formulaic. It wasn't until just recently that I decided after all to give the film a chance, based upon the glowing reviews I'd seen across the web and the sense that this was more than just another horror centred around jump scares, gross outs, and a discordant soundtrack.

A brief internet search will reveal quite how glowing the reviews are; I couldn't find anyone who really had a bad word to say about Jordan Peele's directorial debut, and in fact its score on Rotten Tomatoes is one of the highest. Consider this, perhaps, a counterpoint, to the consensus view that Get Out is a masterpiece which manages to combine comedy, horror and social commentary with masterful results.

Before I get onto the negatives, however, let me just say what I did appreciate about this film. The general sense of tension built up through the beginning of the film was fairly well done, and what I considered some top class acting had a lot to do with this. In fact, I can't think of a single cast member who didn't do a great job.

Ultimately, though, the film felt as formulaic as I had initially feared it would be. I feel that a spoiler warning is unnecessary, as the trailer, or certainly the one I saw, leaves very little to be revealed by the film itself. The only unknowns remaining, when they were revealed, weren't particularly interesting. The protagonist's friend and ally, as well as what I believe was supposed to constitute a comedic relief character (played by Milton “Lil Rel” Howery), who seemed to voice the suspicions of the audience as to how the plot would unravel, was ultimately vindicated, as the story plodded onward towards its seemingly inevitable conclusion.

During what was an unsatisfying final act, the protagonist (played by Daniel Kaluuya—watch the episode of Black Mirror he stars in for a much better social thriller) made a decision which proved near lethal and for me was entirely unbelievable, considering the information which he at this point possessed, despite the foreshadowing I'd been beaten about the head with. This felt straight from the book of horror tropes, where audience members will shout at the screen, "Don't open the door! There's a killer behind it!" at the idiotic actions of a character. But even by this point in the film, I didn't really care enough about Kaluuya's character to raise so much as a sigh.

I suppose a lot has been done here, by Jordan Peele, considering the relatively low budget, at least in terms of the visuals and the calibre of actors involved. Nonetheless, Get Out, for me, seems to be too ambitious an undertaking, and as result falls flat. Undoubtedly, it lightly touches upon some issues of race in America which need to be continually addressed and explored, the key message being on the dangers of complacent liberals, but in the end all it does is lightly touch upon them. The result is the formulaic film which I had unfortunately anticipated.

If you haven't seen Get Out yet, and you still intend to after reading this review, then you can save yourself a lot of time by simply watching the trailer instead.

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About the Creator

Liam Bates

Painful to write, painful to read.

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