Is Nope a yes? Jordan Peele’s latest thriller invaded theaters over the weekend to diverse crowds who had been simmering from the last feature films he directed, Us (2019) and Get Out (2017), and patiently waiting for his next big splash in social consciousness.
Starring Daniel Kaluuya as OJ Haywood and Keke Palmer as Emerald Haywood, the two Haywood siblings are burdened with keeping up the legacy of their family’s horse training ranch in an inconspicuous area of inland California as they loan out the animals to Hollywood productions. Things for the Haywoods go haywire when an unidentified aerial phenomenon (UAP) scours the area for prey. Enters Brandon Perea as Angel Torres, who is a fried Fry Electronics employee with girl problems, and Steven Yeun as Ricky “Jupe” Park, a former child actor turned themed attraction owner with a story to tell.
As OJ becomes engulfed by the selling off of his deceased father’s horses to Jupe, his problems mount when he witnesses strange happenings in and around the ranch. A vibrant Emerald sees the weird occurrences as an opportunity to make money and proceeds to get security cameras from Fry’s Electronics installed with the hopes of capturing the bewildering species on lens. The obsession with UAPs ultimately takes over everyone involved, including a recruited filmmaker known as Antlers Holst (Michael Wincott).
Peele is a class act when it comes to his films. Not only does he understand the high expectations that fans have for his brand, but he plays with the notion by sprinkling Nope with jump scare tactics and odd story infusions.
To be specific, just in time for the Monkeypox outbreak, there’s an ongoing violent story of a primate actor who overtakes a whole production set after having enough of being treated like an animal. It’s one of the more energized parts of the film that spotlights Peele’s incredible ability to bring layers to simplistic stories.
In fact, the first act is filled with so much thirst and expectation, it gives the feeling of the initial tug of a classic rollercoaster as it slowly struggles to the top of its first plunge. Each jolt and click of the rotating wheels evokes a surge of thrills for the anxious group of riders. Set against an astonishing music score, along with a pretty dope playlist that noticeably featured Dionne Warwick’s 1964 single “Walk On By,” Peele merges horror mystery with sci-fi, once in a while throwing in comedic relief as an ever-present familiar and safe space.
By the time the second act arrives, the story becomes muddled with redundancies that don’t quite fulfill the standard set for Jordan Peele greatness by previous films. Even with the screenplay lagging a bit, Kaluuya, Palmer, Perea, and Yeun pull off award-winning acting, making the best out of a pretty much straight forward story about UAPs, formerly known as UFOs. Another great feature of the film is its admirable special effects that fascinated viewers with its grand illustrations.
Once audiences realize that the film is all about getting photographic evidence of the phenomenon, the only thing left to do is pick apart the symbolic, cryptic references parsed throughout the film. Many viewers could be heard saying that they have to see the film again to get it. Others looked confused, while some claimed to know exactly what was meant by the small implications that riddled Nope.
By the way, whatever happened to the art of admitting not knowing? There’s sure to be a population of social media gurus that have a third eye and can piece together the menudo of mysterious clues, liken to art gallery enthusiasts who are mesmerized with a portrait of a piece of tissue with a drop of earth-toned paint on it.
Is it about obsessive paparazzi culture or the similarities between treatment of animals and people of color in Hollywood? Even those ideas appear to be too superficial to breakdown the imagination of Peele. And this is why even though Peele has yet to return to the mind-blowing level of well-rounded consciousness and spookiness that worked in Get Out, we continue to eagerly consume his films based on his name, alone.
