'Get Out' is really as great as you hear it is and then some

I am so thrilled that I got to see Get Out when I did. It is truly a masterpiece and movie of the moment. However, I was worried, because it's starting to get so much hype (surely the 'it's not that great' blogs are on the way) that I felt like I'd be underwhelmed. I was predisposed to like it, since I am an enormous fan of its director Jordan Peele's work on the hit Comedy Central sketch series Key & Peele, but what he has crafted here is genre work at its finest, and a project that will easily rank among my top 10 favorite films of this year. This is a movie that will give a lot of people a lot to talk about -- and that is a wonderful thing. It's many things: a hilarious social commentary, a deeply profound meditation on race, and a creepy horror film. But most importantly, it's original.

Sure, Peele himself would concede that he has drawn inspiration from other heady horror films like The Stepford Wives and Rosemary's Baby. But I have never seen a film tackle the subject of race quite like this.

Keep in mind, it's never preachy, and it doesn't provide simplistic bad guys and good guys. What it does do, unlike perhaps any fictional film I've seen, is approximate the paranoia many African-Americans feel when thrust into predominately white, condescending spaces (a feeling I know all too well). And it also makes a smart, nuanced point about how racism is not just motivated by fear but also in some cases envy.

There are people of all races who may not wish to enjoy the full black experience -- but who would love to enjoy what they at least perceive to be its inherent gifts and appeal.

Jordan Peele

Because Get Out takes the time to set up its characters and allows the dread to slowly creep into the proceedings, you get on board more easily with its patently absurd premise, and the story continues to throw curveballs at you right up to its final frames. This movie not only made me reflect on moments from my own personal dating life, but the death of Trayvon Martin, too.

The cast is uniformly excellent, and hopefully its leading man -- Daniel Kaluuya -- will become a star because of his incredible work here. And Lil Rel Howery is howlingly funny in the comic relief role. But most of this film's critical acclaim is being justifiably heaped on Peele, because this is so clearly his singularly sophisticated vision.

As the film's writer and director -- he lends it a genuine gut-busting humor, but also razor sharp smarts. I have no idea how long he sat on this idea and developed it, but there were strands of the plot I was still piecing together after I left the theater and I found myself nodding in approval (this one will probably be even more rewarding after repeat viewings).

He has a terrific eye -- as anyone who's watched the well-crafted sketches of Key & Peele can tell you -- and he also has a comic's adroit sense of timing. There isn't a scene or snippet of dialogue wasted. And the movie's big reveal is so deftly handled and fascinating -- I always say a great movie can often seem like a great book -- and this was one I didn't want to end.

There's so much to unpack and yet I was never less than thoroughly entertained. And the movie is a reminder of what genre movies can be. I've heard some critics favorably compare this to the work of John Carpenter, and I think that's spot on (George A. Romero deserves a shout out too). Horror films, I have always argued, have the potential to speak truths by tapping into our greatest fears and anxieties in a purely visceral way. Sometimes watching a great horror film can almost feel like a religious experience in that way.

Take my favorite film, The Shining, for instance. On the surface, it's a fairly trippy haunted house story, but there is a lot more for the taking if you want it. In Get Out, there is high and low satire, truly well earned jump scares, and some gorgeous cinematography and music.

But the reason I think it's catching on -- in addition to rave reviews, a wonderful trailer and likely solid word of mouth -- is that it feels vital and timely for this post-Trump world. People of color are feeling 'nervous' to say the least. It's a disquieting time and Get Out both captures that emotion and provides catharsis for it.

I can't recommend this film more highly -- it's the thinking person's scary movie a lot of us have been waiting for. And it exemplifies why people like me love cinema.