I think the wheels fall off to some extent in the last 15-20 minutes. It feels like Peele wanted to both do something rich and layered *and* do a fun creature movie, and that’s just such a hard balance to strike. The best creature movies are, like, an hour 40 and are streamlined to maximize the thrills. And while we get some of that here, Peele also can’t resist throwing a lot of other stuff into the pot. This definitely doesn’t land the way Get Out or Us do imo.

That said, Peele is one of the more gifted directors alive in terms of creating indelible imagery. There are some fantastic shots and sequences here. And the performances, per usual, are quite strong— Palmer would be my MVP, personally. I also enjoy that he’s out there making things that are original, things that are ambitious, things that are unlike most typical blockbusters… even there is the part of me that thinks he’d make an absolutely BANGER straight forward 90 minute horror/sci-fi flick if he wanted.

It’s the weakest in his career to date, and I won’t be surprised to see the Shyamalan comments like above. There are definitely some parallels in that Shyamalan’s ambitions in his writing also beckoned for him to get away from audience expectations— and Shyamalan, like Peele, has made some of the best thriller imagery of the last 30 years. I imagine Peele won’t lose as much track of the road as Shyamalan did once Hollywood really started cutting big checks, because Peele already has had big success, so he might be better equipped to deal.

And, of course, Shyamalan’s third movie was also about aliens visiting a country house, was also a blend of comedy, sci-fi, and horror, was also a little too ambitious for its own good, and also fell off at the finale, lol. But if your movie is getting compared to Signs— there’s also a good amount of Tremors in here, though it’s not as good as Tremors— then you’re still making entertaining cinema. And I remain excited for his next one.

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