Writer/director Jordan Peele came up with his new sci-fi thriller Nope while under pandemic lockdown, and the script comes off like one that was written in an isolated environment, by someone who was probably restless and couldn’t turn off their imagination. This is him throwing his hat into the alien invasion ring, with a sometimes unwieldy but exciting story of two horse trainers trying to save their family business. The adventure they embark on has allusions to not just martians, but also how past trauma affects people and as well as our desire to be recognized.
It almost comes off like Peele’s skewering of Hollywood itself, as if it’s a movie about the production process and how exploitative it can feel. It’s doubly true with the animal characters, who start acting strange and flee when they catch wind of the ominous force that’s approaching.
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This film sees Peele reuniting with Get Out star Daniel Kaluuya alongaide Keke Palmer as Otis “O.J” and Emerald Haywood, characters based off of the unidentified horse jockey in Eadweard Muyvbridge’s “The Horse In Motion”. After a strange accident claims the life of their father (Keith David), they’ve come into ownership of the family ranch and they’re looking for a way to keep it financially stable. Things look bleak when they’re forced to sell some prized horses to ex-child actor Ricky “Jupe” Park (Steven Yuen) who’s running his own alien-themed ranch tourist trap.
Coincidentally enough, the Haywoods experience their owbn close encounter when the house lighting goes cuckoo and the animals begin panicking, the precursor to a bizare UFO flying around and terrorizing the area with a giant tornado beam-up. Like Johnny Bravo, Em and OJ are disgusted, but curious. They see selling possible footage of a flying saucer as the answer to keep the ranch alive, and with the help of filmmaker Antlers Holst) (a a measured Michael Wincott) and their tech expert Angel tagging along (Brandon Perea) they’re out to find proof.
Throughout the movie we’re shown flashvbacks to Jupe’s history on the sitcom “Gordy’s Home” co-starring a chimpanzee, who went on a rampage and assaulted numerous cast-members on-set in an infamous incident. Yuen’s particuarly great capturing someonw who mentally doesn’t know how to process the trauma he delt with that day, holding onto the lost hoe of her co-star Margaret (Jennifer LaFleur) encased in glass, alongside his Gordy merchanside and material from his “Kid Sherrif” series.
This subplot calls back to a real-world event involcing a pet chimp that mangled the face of the owner’s friend, with the nature of Margeret’s injuries being very similar to the real world victim when she’s shown in a crowd later. This is basically Peele going into how Jupe and Gordy were taken advantage of in some ways by Hollywood, as Jupe even while trying to come off like a big shot he clearly doesn’t have it all together yet.
For me, one element I think will be especially innovative about Nope is its unique depiction of a flying saucer. Peele shows the UFO as a strange flying bio-organism, almost like a mammal or a bird When it “abducts” victims, it’s unsettling and just a little disgusting.
It’s hard to describe, like this thing is kinda gross, but it’s well designed- the Xenomorph from the Alien movies modeled by H.R. Geiger works with audiences in the same manner. Without spoiling much hopefully, there’s a part when the saucer undergoes a transformation, and it’s scary but also weirdly beautiful, like a kaleidoscope.
Palmer felt to me like the heart of the movie, spunky and relatable while wrestling with her own dreams of stardom. As O.J., Kalluya’s reactions are uniquely his own as a performer, but it still works within the context of the situation. in a scene when the UFO is around the corner, he considers leaving the car, and it just utters “nope”. It’s one of the more natural-sounding and less forced title drops I’ve come across. T
his got a chuckle from the audience- don’t get me wrong, Peele’s work is mostly pretty haunting, but he’s never made a movie without some form of levity (Lil Rel Howery in Get Out, certain line deliveries in Us). Some of the comedy doesn’t always land and feels a tad sitcomey at points, but most of it is fine enough to keep things feeling creepy-fun rather than just creepy and dreary.
The biggest critique I could give Nope is how scattered its focus seems to be. It’s so ambitious that it wants to try so many different things and it can’t pay full attention to everything at the same time. The film’s basic premise of extraterrestrials and the seeking of fame are still there, but the approach to these themes are constantly in flux. It’s not so bad to where the audience can’t become invested in the chatacters and their situation though.
Still, the strong lead performances, bits of solid humor and a pretty innovative monster I feel akes Nope worth a watch. I didn’t find this as creepy as Us, and Get Out so far I think has had the most clearly defined message out of all of Peele’s scary movies up to now. But the ideas being played with are mostly handled with wit and strong atmospheric direction. What was your take on it? Hop by FAN’s social media spots and share your opinion wiht us!