For the many newcomer directors that have left an impact on cinema in such a short period of time, Jordan Peele was a very surprising addition. Actor and comedian Jordan Peele started off in sketch shows like Mad TV and especially his own Comedy Central sketch comedy series Key and Peele with his Mad TV collaborator Keegan-Michael Key. Wanting to branch out further, he started to help write movies like Keanu and even starred in animated movies like Captain Underpants and Toy Story 4, but the biggest risk that he took was in 2017 when he was given his first directorial chance with Get Out, a horror thriller film feeling very against type for Peele himself. Against all odds, upon the films release, the movie was praised by critics and fans alike, welcoming a new change to the horror trend, started to get people excited for horror films again, and showed that Jordan Peele was not only a competent director, but also one with talent and promise. Preparing to visit his girlfriend Rose’s (played by Allison Williams) parents on a getaway, Chris Washington (played by Jake Kaluuya) is afraid of how her family will react to him being of African American descent. Upon arriving, while experiencing nothing hostile, he still feels uncomfortable around the family’s passive aggressive tone, any other Black people in the area acting way straight-faced, and just the overall ‘’Whiteness’’ of the area. What started off as mild nerves slowly starts to become more prominent when he begins to feel the area is hiding a deadly secret and whatever it is, he feels he is a vital part of this terrible plan. Since comedy and horror are seen as parallel styles, Jordan Peele managed to perfectly blend the themes of both into creating an amazingly told, perfectly acted, amazingly tense, well-thought out film with aspects almost unknown to most movies of its type.

With an incredibly fresh idea under its belt, the film could have lost major points with its handling of a very obvious message. Without going into the movie, the themes and moral seem to be pretty straightforward. Any time a film focused on racism or anything very similar, the ways it can be told are plentiful, but often never taken up on in any complex way. This movie not only directs itself towards an over-the-top but fun concept, and redirects that into a more amazing twist that works brilliantly both on the first viewing and on the second. The way it evolves the handling of an obvious message to the next level where it can be both shocking, disturbing, and also kinda silly, to the point where it tackles even greater and more interesting themes upon itself, including the importance between either races, how each one views the other’s strengths and weaknesses, how far can a person go while being benign to their actions, and what has to be given up in order to keep you own race .Without giving anything away, the movie has an amazing ‘’step-ford wives’’ atmosphere, everything feeling incredibly placid and phoney to the point of being creepy. This along with the subject matter at hand creates an atmosphere and pacing that is drenched in passive tension and subtle nudges, it’s never too in your face but it never goes away either, almost every scene has a sickening feeling that keeps the audience on edge. While the film could have used a more effective balance to the stressful moments, the tone’s never feel out of place or don’t mesh well. Also the ending is a tiny bit rushed and not as effective as the alternate they shot, but with their reasons behind the change, it can be excused.

Picking the actors for this movie are ones that would have to be able to play both incredibly blankly and (ironically) incredibly ‘’white’’ in nature, but also be able to give an emotional wreck level performance on the turn of a dime, and thankfully every person in this movie is cast perfectly. Every role between the black people acting normally, white people acting uncomfortably cheerily, and even black people acting awkwardly white, each layer of uncomfortable comes through in these stellar performances. Jake Kaluuya is very good as the lead, the girlfriend’s parents are great at being upfront yet subtle about their wordplay, the African American cast are having a lot of fun acting completely squeaky clean and uppity, and each person is directed with great care and timing, where any one of them can handle the dark and light stuff pretty well. The only two that have some trouble are the girlfriend’s brother (played by Caleb Landry Jones) who is very one note and not as well written, and the comic relief (played by Lil Rel Howery) who is meant for relief and acts it fine enough, but his forwardness and wordplay is maybe a bit too dissimilar to the rest of the film.

Coming from a comedy background and this being his directorial debut, the writing could have so easily been written too wordy or jokey and ruined the mood, but thankfully it never goes that far. The movie isn’t even focused on making people laugh most of the time, its smart enough to know that it keeps levity for levity; in moments where it’s needed to offset the mood, or when the situation is so extreme, strange and uncomfortable that laughter is the only response. With a pitch perfect tone and pitch perfect pacing, it never gets tiring to watch and only manages to suck people in more as the film progresses, since the twist is written in such a brilliant way that its legitimate reveal by the end with effective hints and even obvious clues from the very beginning don’t feel on-the-nose, they are cleverly woven in subtly on the first viewing and wonderfully obvious the second. The films cinematography is never overblown or too in your face, its effectively simplistic and heavy on close-up shots, only adding to the film’s idealistic and awkward nature. The film’s lighting and framework makes everything seem perfect and clean yet is matched with enough still and quick motion shots to keep things interesting and mobile. The soundtrack isn’t quite as on the nose about its symbolism and constant theme parallels, but it does have enough of a nice tone and style that even using Childish Gambino in your soundtrack won’t come off as edgy.

Get Out is a fantastic introduction for Jordan Peele to start off his directing career. When a man who was originally great at making people laugh is now known as the man that will make you terrified, it shows a specific talent that is thankfully being used and appreciated. While Get Out would usually be forgotten about if it didn’t feature amazing performance, a very well-paced and crafted narrative, excellent and interesting twist on a familiar lesson, nice shots and a great unique style that would carry over to his other films like 2019 film US, the movie was appropriately showered with awards and praises, even getting nominated for Best Picture of 2018 (something pretty different at the time). A great film to get amazingly uncomfortable with; where every old white party will never be seen with pleasantness again, and people will forever shiver at the sound of a teacup clatter. Definitely check this one out and witness the horrors that Get Out has in store for you.