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Nope Review: A Haunting & Humorous Twist On Hollywood Sci-Fi
Nope, Jordan Peele's new movie about a "bad miracle," offers a thrilling and humorous twist on Hollywood sci-fi - and serves as a meta-love letter to filmmaking. Fans of Peele's prior horror entries, Get Out and Us, are likely to enjoy the filmmaker's latest offering; though, it's worth noting that, while still full of profound and layered ideas, Nope is closer in execution to the horror-comedy mix of Get Out than Us (which, although profound and more nuanced, was slightly more difficult for moviegoers to digest). Thematically, everything ties together but some plot threads are looser than others - serving the movie as an experience (packed with foreshadowing, homage, and clever ties to film history) more than the plot, on occasion.
Nope posits the unnamed Black jockey featured in Eadweard Muybridge's pre-motion picture photo series, "The Horse in Motion," founded a horse training ranch for the purpose of supplying the burgeoning film industry with horses for production. Generations later and Haywood's Hollywood Horses falls on rough times, following a freak incident that critically injures family patriarch Otis Haywood Sr. (played by Keith David). Without their father to manage the business (and fickle Hollywood producers who would rather use CGI than real horses in their productions), OJ Haywood (Daniel Kaluuya) and his younger sister Emerald (Keke Palmer) struggle to keep the ranch afloat - resorting to selling off their beloved horses one at a time to former child-actor turned rodeo showman Ricky "Jupe" Park (Steven Yeun). However, when the Haywood horses begin breaking out of their stables and disappearing into the night, OJ begins to take notice of an increasing number of strange occurrences and mysterious sounds on the property - that might just provide an opportunity to save the ranch (in more ways than one).
Peele's return to the director chair is a highly successful one - shaking off concerns that the filmmaker might stumble in his junior outing (mostly due to surface-level pre-release comparisons between Nope and M. Night Shyamalan's third horror film, Signs). Nevertheless, Peele delivers a layered subversion of horror movie (and this time science-fiction) tropes with well-realized characters that, once again, recontextualizes traditionally white story beats through a Black POV - to amusing and penetrating results. Where Get Out is Peele's most entertaining and accessible film, and Us remains the filmmaker's most ambitious and complex effort, Nope raises the bar in a number of interesting ways, perfectly balancing humor, suspense, and payoff, including several scenes that rely on masterful use of restraint and non-action. Without going into specifics, Peele's conceptualization of the movie's main threat is at the same time haunting, beautiful, and genuinely disturbing, injecting a number of unique ideas and epic visuals that transform the film's genre inspirations.
That said, at times Nope leans too heavily into homage and thematic juxtaposition - which, like any thoughtful piece of cinema, will reward repeat viewers with intriguing motifs to unpack. Still, moviegoers who are hoping to switch off their brains for an entertaining horror thrill-ride will find that select aspects of Nope (especially Gordy, an ape character played by Planet of the Apes series actor Terry Notary) don't outright connect. Again, this isn't to say that these elements aren't worthy of inclusion (they absolutely are) but, given a significant amount of emphasis and runtime are dedicated to them, they result in a hefty price for certain moviegoers to pay - a price that, when it comes to these tangents, will leave certain viewers more confused than exhilarated.
Peele's prior films provided a showcase for memorable characters as well as great performances and Nope is no exception. Breakout Get Out star Daniel Kaluuya is back in the leading role of OJ - and it is Kaluuya that sells several of the film's most outrageous and tense scenes. Kaluuya plays OJ as stoic, but tender, making for an especially entertaining mix when the buttoned-up character is thrust into an increasingly bizarre situation (and series of encounters with the villain's malevolent threat). A scene in which the actor actually says "Nope" sums up why Peele's take on horror is so refreshing - and, along with another intense scene in which Kaluuya is stuck inside his truck, are sure to illicit some genuinely cathartic laughs (in the face of impending death).
Similarly, Keke Palmer (Scream: The TV Series) delivers a charming turn as Emerald - OJ's aspiring actor-director-stunt-woman younger sister who is as outgoing as OJ is understated. She's a scene-stealer and served well by Peele's writing and direction - who provides Palmer with a rich character arc that, by the end of the film, unleashes a transformed and downright steely Emerald upon the third act.
Supporting actors Brandon Perea, Steven Yeun, and Michael Wilcott are mostly confined to exposition and comic relief - making room for Kaluuya and Palmer to shine. Yet, Perea's tech guy-turned-accomplice to OJ and Emerald, Angel Torres, is a standout - especially in his scenes and banter with Keke Palmer. Meanwhile, Yeun (The Walking Dead) does his best to turn exposition machine Ricky "Jupe" Park into a defined character; unfortunately, Jupe's child actor backstory is heavily tied to a set piece that does more to build motif than advance the core storyline. As a result, while Yeun has some great moments, his overall contributions are a bit of a mixed bag.
Nope is another insightful and inventive twist on a genre staple from Peele. It's packed with great performances and entertaining characters - who react in unique ways to the movie's unique threat. All the same, select aspects and characters do not come full circle by the end, resulting in a movie that flirts with interesting tangents but doesn't always deliver a worthwhile return on time spent. Still, there's no one making movies like Peele and Nope is a welcome addition to his catalogue - one that, for all the reasons it might be overindulgent to certain viewers, provides a lot for fans to analyze and unpack.
Nope opens in theaters July 22. The film is 135 long and is rated R for language throughout and some violence/bloody images.
