Jordan Peele seems to be on a bit of an M. Night Shyamalan trajectory, which I don't mean nearly as harshly as that sounds since I was still really enjoying Shyamalan's work three movies in. Still, I do get the sense that Peele's talent for ideas and craftsmanship (and presumably his auteurist clout) is kind of relaxing the discipline that made his first movie so remarkable. As with Shyamalan, but ironically given Peele's background, his sense of humor was once one of his biggest assets but I think it's one of this film's weakest points, reduced to flatly goofy supporting characters and awkward social commentary; it's not really fair to compare everything to Get Out's masterful balance of horror and comedy but the mix here just doesn't work. (Thinking of the TMZ guy--painful!)

BUT, all that being said, this also has moments (primarily the chimp stuff but also the main alien attack) that are genuinely really scary in a way that Peele's never shown himself capable of before. And overall this still feels like a work of real creative enthusiasm with a somewhat sloppy execution, which is always preferable to an immaculately crafted generic product. So despite my complaints and even considering the sky-high expectations, I walked away satisfied (maybe even more so than I was with Us) and will happily line up for the next one.