MovieChat Forums > Us (2019) Discussion > Questions and observations after a secon...

Questions and observations after a second viewing

posted 5 years ago by [deleted]
18 replies | jump to latest

So the US government started an experiment to clone people underground with their counterparts on the surface, and to control them from below. However, whilst the cloning was easy, getting them to behave independently of each other was not possible and the clone imitated the progenitor, hence the "tethering".

So I have a few questions, and excuse me if I use my own terms for the above and below people:

1. If the Surfacers were meant to follow the Tunnellers, then why were the Tunnellers behaving more like zombies than the Surfacers? Cos they had been abandoned by then, were directionless and the Surfacers "took over"?

2. I know that Adelaide (a Surfacer) actually switched roles with Red (a Tunneller) when she went into the hall of mirrors, but some people have suggested that Jason was also swapped. IF there are pairs of humans (Surfacer and Tunneller), and the Tunneller Jason (the facially-scarred boy) was killed, then who could've replaced Jason? As far as the film says, it was a human and a clone each.

3. Since the kidnapped child Adelaide basically became the leader of the Tunnellers, then didn't she teach English to them? If so, how come none of them spoke English after they went to the surface and started killing?

4. Did the underground escalator always go down? When Adelaide explores the underground, it is going down then, but it is also doing so when Red first discovers it. Did the Tunnellers find a way to reverse its direction of travel? Otherwise, it would've been hilarious seeing all of the Tunnellers scrambling up it as fast as they could go and getting exhausted!

[–] tollyfan33 (71) 5 years ago

how could jason be switch his cloan died when jason made him walk into the fire

none of them could speak beause they didn't have souls and that is why the projected failed because they couldn't cloan a person soul

[–] gcarras (2728) 5 years ago

Saw it today and pretty muich enjoyed it. Recognized Santa Cruz from a 1979 visit there.

[–] TaterTots (14) 5 years ago

none of them could speak beause they didn't have souls

Not true, did you forget that Red/Adelaide were switched as children? Adelaide spoke just fine despite not having a soul, and Red could barely speak at all.

[–] goldgoldgold (84) 5 years ago

1. We never saw how the Tunnelers behaved before the government abandoned them. Red said that they went crazy after being trapped down there alone for generations so they might not have originally acted like zombies but only started to behave that way after many years of isolation.

2. I think the theory is that Jason was switched when the family went to the summer house the previous year. That would explain why he decided to play in the closet despite having been trapped in there just one year earlier. It would also explain why they chose to burn Tunneler-Jason's mouth shut so that he couldn't talk and reveal he was the original. Also, at the beginning of the movie Jason had to be coaxed to eat (maybe he was raised on rabbit), he was considered weird by the twins, he was drawn to the hall of mirrors in a parallel to little Ade, and he was building tunnels in the sand during his family's trip to the beach. The theory is that he was switched when he was trapped in the closet a year earlier.

3. You can't teach a feral human language after the age of 12 due to a decrease in neural plasticity. Read more about it here, it's pretty interesting: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Language_deprivation

4. It always went down, but when there was a blackout it stopped entirely. That's how little Ade was able to climb up. The Tunnelers also probably climbed up during the blackout that occurred at the end of the first act.

[–] APPLEhead54 (13) 5 years ago

ok finally a good explanation of how jason could have been switched. i've read people saying that but they could never explain why that was so. i don't believe he was switched but your explanations are interesting. he also couldn't get that magic trick to work and he left it at the beach house the year before. the only thing about people being switched is the clones look off from the real people. they look crazed, remember the white family? their clones looked deranged. anyhoo the fact that red was able to switch places w/Ade was a movie mistake cuz red should have looked a little off being a clone. she looked EXACTLY like Ade so much that her parents thought the only thing different about her was she didn't talk. so if jason was switched too that means he also looked EXACTLY like this clone, which now that i think about it he did except for his burned face. but we can't make exceptions for red and pluto and not everyone else.
speaking of the escalator where did you get the theory that there was a power outage? but i had a funny thought during the movie: who was running the power to keep the lights on and escalor running? lol

[–] Cathexis (112) 5 years ago

There is a power outage when Adelaide goes into the funhouse at the beginning of the film. The second one occurs in the beach house right before the Tethered show up outside.

[–] jasonbourne (1027) 5 years ago

!!! Minor Spoiler !!!
[spoiler]It could also explain the ending of the film where "Jason" looks back at "Adelaide," too.[/spoiler]

[–] TaterTots (14) 5 years ago

I don't buy the Jason was switched theory, especially while he was locked in the closet. How did his double get into the closet? How did his double know Jason would be locked in the closet? How did they sneak Jason out of the locked closet without anyone knowing? And why would Jason join the Tunnelers and turn into a pyromaniac? And how did he learn to speak and act like a Surfacer so quickly when it took Adelaide such a long time?

The other stuff, like not wanting to eat and digging sand-tunnels at the beach sound like normal kid stuff to me, and probably written in the script as symbolism or foreshadowing.

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

I don't think Jason was switched either. I think what happened is that when the real Adelaide snatched him, she probably told him the truth about his mother actually being a clone who took her place in life, hence that look he gave her in the car at the end. I'm pretty sure she sensed that he knew the truth now. I think that look was also telling her that he wouldn't say anything to anyone, that her secret was safe with him. After all, she is the one who bore and raised him.

[–] mrbnk (408) 3 years ago

Why didn't the real Adelaide reveal that during "the family reunion"?

[–] Danimalzx (63) 5 years ago

Jason was NOT switched. He spoke English perfectly well and there is NO way he could have learned it all in just one short year, without his parents and sister recognizing that he was a mute and needed to be taught English (the way Adelaide was when she switched places with Red). You do realize that Adelaide is a clone right? Therefore, her offspring are also HALF clone. Furthermore, Pluto (Red's son) acted like an animal, crawling all over the floor. The theory is just ridiculous if you actually stop and consider it for more than 2 seconds.

[–] Caeli (102) 5 years ago

Ok, but I have a question. In the end they are driving off in the ambulance and "Adalaide" looks over at "Jason" and in the reflection in the window you can see the mask of Pluto. I rewound the movie twice and still saw the same thing. Although, on the second time I may have looked too hard and deduced that it was the reflection of the white shirt he was wearing and not Pluto's mask. Anyone else see a mask?

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

[–] mitzibishi (1617) 5 years ago

Best not to think about it too much.

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

It's good to think, exercises the little grey cells.

[–] mitzibishi (1617) 5 years ago

In general yes.

This film, the logic and the logistics behind the conspiracy and the whole underground thing.

No.

[–] thingmakersback (1212) 3 years ago

Agreed. This film works as dream-logic. Attempting to make sense of it as reality will only waste your time.

[–] OhHeyBro (361) 5 years ago

Who in their right mind would watch this trash a second time?