This is why cinemas need to continue to exist for an adult audience. Not necessarily for compact multi-manufactured franchise movies, but for movies like this, where I go in not knowing what to expect, but fueled with anticipation simply over the allure of the director, and in this case, Mr. Jordan Peele. It’s an event! It’s a moment in history. Peele’s previous movie, Us, has been accused of ‘style over substance’, and I can’t say I disagree with that, but when this man’s style is so good, he can almost get away with it. I think this might be Peele’s first movie that hasn’t been spoiled for me by trailers and reviews in some capacity, so I can’t wait for the maximum experience.
When OJ’s father dies, Otis Haywood Jr. (Daniel Kaluuya) must assume control of the family ranch, whose business it’s been to hire out horses to Hollywood, and whose family’s claim to fame is that they are the direct ancestors of the first jockey ever to be captured on moving film. OJ’s whirlwind of a sister, Em (Kiki Palmer), comes out to help, as she is easily the most personable of the pair, although her mind is often elsewhere, looking for other employment and down to have a good time. Strange power outages at the ranch urge the siblings to consider that there’s something unidentifiable in the sky, and they plan to capture it on film with an ‘Oprah shot’, no doubt to nab that Oprah money. This movie is 130 minutes long, which may be relevant to this review going forward…
…because I spent the first hour waiting for something to happen. I had time to reflect back on Signs and Contact, and even Super 8, and wonder just how Nope was going to fit in contribution to the wider genre. Those movies, whilst being first contact movies at the heart, also aimed to tackle huge themes about life and spirituality, whereas Nope just seemed happy to be about a guy, his horse farm, and a random rampant chimp. In an early scene, where OJ takes his horse to a movie set, we can see that OJ isn’t particular charismatic or assertive, and he’s our lead 😬 Along with sister Em, for a while I considered that neither of these characters really felt particularly authentic or fun. Then when the kids show up in the barn and cause an ‘alien disturbance’, I was keen for things to get moving, but that scene turns out to be a pump-fake, and I had bad flashbacks of Malignant, where I wondered if I was being taken for another ride. Even when the alien craft swallows up Ricky ‘Jupe’ Park (Steven Yeun) and his hopeful tourists, the horrific scenes are quick and minimal, making me think on a movie I actually haven’t seen but have heard so much about, Fire in the Sky, famed for its vivid alien depictions. What was this movie offering?
Then, around the halfway point all is revealed, as we are not so much in a first contact movie as we’re in a predator movie. The pieces start falling into place, momentum starts churning, and action intensifies. Jordan Peele directs the shit out of the second half, and I loved it. It’s visually unique again, down to the vast landscapes and wacky-waving-inflatable-arm-flailing-tube-men. In fact, even before that, when I wasn’t sold on the project’s objective, I still admired Peele for his tendency to play with story structure and demand investment in the moment, while moving at his own measure, and keeping the big picture murky. He likes to fuse real niche situations with his movies too, like the ‘Hands Across America’ in Us, and the unknown black jockey in this one, and I respect that. Even the wild ‘Gordy’s Home’ incident felt like it could’ve been based off true events, although a Google search confirms that it’s not, although there were enough animal-based entertainments in the nineties that I wouldn’t have been surprised. The chimpanzee scenes are the scariest in the movie – there I am scoffing my popcorn, and there’s a murderous chimpanzee staring straight at me, intimidating! And I love a movie where a random group of people fall together to do a thing – like, when the movie first starts, there’s no way you’re thinking that the director character, Holst (Michael Wincott) will play a pivotal cog in the endgame. I’m also glad I took a moment to reflect on the ‘where we are’ versus ‘where we were’ element of the story too, as OJ races away from the enormous alien jellyfish, compared to how the movie starts out so quietly with small bits and bobs falling from the sky. It’s usually a bad sign when a movie starts dishing out those mid-movie title cards, as the movie might be taking itself too seriously, but when that ‘Jean Jacket’ lettering came up, I was ready to go! Let’s break this alien down!
It’s a leap for me to believe that because Ricky thought he made friends with the chimp on the show, adult Ricky would think he could train a monstrous eye-in-the-sky too; but childhood trauma will lead your mind to crazy conclusions I suppose, and whatever, I’m not a psychologist. But I can understand the respect OJ had learned through training horses and the thought to transfer that to a bigger and more dangerous creature. I recently rewatched Wind River (a great movie, recommend) and it’s the same type of respect that Jeremy Renner’s character shows toward nature there, which turns out to be highly essential when the might of natural phenomena is very real, and even hovering over your house. And forgetting that might, becoming complacent, leads to arrogant exploitation, disaster, make-up contraptions getting kicked, and chimps ripping off your face. It’s funny though, exploring people’s reactions, because when the sky dweller first confronted, I wondered if I would be so scared like Em and Angel (Brandon Perea), or more in awe with the appropriate trepidation. Then when the creature turns on OJ in the car, he’s about how I think I’d be feeling – Nope! Not dealing with this until I can mentally come to terms with it – the best laugh of the movie.
I still don’t know how much I’m sold on Daniel Kaluuya as an A-star talent, after snubbing him in my Slice Awards for Judas and the Black Messiah as well. Admittedly, Get Out and this role require him to be very reserved and even secondary to the chaos around him, and he’s nothing if not professionally dutiful. I knew I’d seen Keke Palmer elsewhere before, and that was in the TV series Scream: Resurrection where she played a similarly cool self-assured loudmouth as well. As both their characters grew on me in the second act, so did Kaluuya and Palmer. Steven Yuen doesn’t take up that much screentime, but knowing him mostly as the white-knight Glenn from The Walking Dead, this movie is a step toward accepting Yuen as a villain-type for the next Spider-Man movies, if the rumours are true – sweet.
I’m going to have to see Nope again someday because I wonder if the lack of momentum I experienced in the first half, and lack of interest I felt towards the characters, would still be there now knowing how it ends. I’m also sure there’ll be, like, 20+ references and tiny intricate details along the way that I missed that make Nope that extra special due to Jordan Peele’s talented mind. It’s early days but I can see Nope sitting alongside those genre-defining space movies I mentioned before quite comfortably. It’s got the spectacle, especially in that final act, and it’s got some wicked tension. It also captures the wonder of the sky, as I’ll now be looking up to make sure that all the clouds be moving – but I won’t be looking up for too long. Right now, I’d place Nope in between Get Out and Us in Peele’s quality hierarchy.
3.5
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