Rating: 9.2
Right from the opening shot, my eyes were glued to the screen while watching Jordan Peele’s new film, “Nope”. I fell in love with this movie before I had even finished watching it, the film blew me away! “Nope” is a sheer cinematic spectacle to behold, the likes of which we rarely get from blockbusters these days. I was stunned by it, and have found myself unable to stop thinking about it since seeing the film. “Nope” is very different from Jordan Peele’s other films, “Get Out” (which I love) and “Us” (which I like), and while this may be a “hot take”, I think this is Peele’s best film to date! It’s a masterpiece of a film that was right up my alley, easily my favourite of his! It’s so clever, so terrifying, chilling, creative and even funny! The film has a lot of interesting surprises in store with a plot that was so fulfilling and satisfying that had a lot of thematic intellect while also being an incredible, and most importantly, completely original sci-fi thriller!
I must echo the statements of other reviewers: Peele combines so many director’s styles in this film, it feels Hitchcockian mixed with Spielberg, with hints of Tarantino, Kubrick and even Carpenter. It’s so exciting to see Peele be able to craft films on the level of these other directors, and I can fully say that he has his own style that he has developed over his three films that takes elements from all these great directors. Peele’s greatest skill in my opinion is his natural ability to craft tense scenes and build tension so masterfully. He has this instinct on how to manufacture and elicit emotional responses that he wants to get out of you as an audience, and this film truly showed off a phenomenal use of tension and suspense, some of the best I’ve ever seen in recent years! I especially loved how he used the blow up air dancers to create such strong suspense and tension near the end! Peele’s direction is something truly special, his storytelling abilities are my favourite aspect of this film. You’re invested in the story the whole way through, and reveals are executed so perfectly. The film has a fantastic build up to the climax, and has some excellent pay-offs… everything comes full circle! I love the way Peele is able to blend and bend genres, as this film mixes horror, sci-fi, and even comedy (he makes use of the title in some clever ways) so expertly. And of course, as shown with his previous films, he layers thematics into the story perfectly!
The film itself is a spectacle, but also very cleverly explores themes around spectacle, from the lengths we go to in order to create and receive it, to how we can turn tragic events into spectacle, essentially the idea of exploitation for entertainment. Peele examines how we have this inner need to be the spectacle and event connects this to the current state of the film industry. It’s no secret this is a UFO film, and I loved the way Peele opens the movie focusing on horses and chimps, but ends it with an alien plot, using it to further the point that in order to achieve spectacle you have to keep doing more and more. There’s a scene early on involving a commercial shoot, where a live horse gets replaced with a CGI one because it is perceived as “better”. I really liked this commentary on what the film industry is currently doing to achieve spectacle in films, as we really are moving from live actors and animals and settings, to more CGI based ones to create an even bigger spectacle.
The film also has some cool references to film history, including showing one of the first things ever put to film, Muybridge’s shot of a black man on a horse, and I loved the way Peele replicated this near the climax of the movie with a modern film sensibility, showing how far film has come while also commenting on what used to be exciting (a man riding a horse) to what is exciting now (a man on a horse riding away from a UFO). I just really ate up the thematics of this film, it worked so well for me and was so well placed in the film. Hell, you could write a thesis on it. There was also an element that seemed to be about film crews, how sometimes people involved in monumental achievements in film are not recognized, and I thought this worked very well too! Now, a lot of people seem to be upset about the sequences involving the monkey, saying they aren’t relevant to the plot. I would argue against this, that while plot-wise they may not fit perfectly, they are necessary thematically to set up the idea of how we abuse and exploit animals for our entertainment, and the overall theme of the movie of how we can turn tragic events into spectacle and money making opportunities. I thought it worked perfectly thematically and ensured the audience understood what Peele was trying to do with the finale of the film.
While I did write a lot about the thematics this film covers, I won’t say anything about the plot past what I have. This is a film you want to experience for yourself and not have any idea about what surprises may be in store. And trust me, there are some excellent ones that were so brilliant and unexpected. Peele does something I have never seen in a UFO film before and I loved it, especially the feeling of realization as I figured it out! It has such a good mystery to it and clever reveals that subtly let you piece them together yourself without outright telling you. The film is different, and weird, and unlike anything else I’ve seen before, it's a wholly original blockbuster from Peele, and that is truly rare in this day and age, so it must be appreciated!
Earlier I said there were Spielbergian elements to this film, and quite honestly it does remind me of one of Spielberg’s most famous films. Not “Close Encounters” as one might think, but instead “Jaws”. This is 100% Jordan Peele’s “Jaws”. It uses suspense in many of the same ways, and instead of a shark in the sea… we have a UFO in the sky. “Jaws” was famous for making people not want to go in the water… but “Nope” will have you terrified to look up at the sky! I even loved how Peele did seem to compare the sky to the ocean, as both really are very unknown. This movie truly is as effective a horror/thriller summer blockbuster as “Jaws” was… it is on the level of that film! And yet, it feels more like what would have happened if Hitchcock directed “Jaws”, it's just this really interesting style of suspense that I loved so much!
From a technical standpoint this movie is flawless. Peele has Nolan-esque visuals here, probably because he hired Nolan’s current cinematographer, Hoyte van Hoytema. The film just looked gorgeous and had you looking all around the screen! I’ve also never seen nighttime scenes look this beautiful! It really showed off the sky brilliantly too, and made me really want to study the clouds in the frame. I haven’t seen a film featuring the sky this prominently in awhile, and the shots used are perfect! Hell, the visual effects were even fascinating! The film also demands to be seen in IMAX, the format it was shot for, as not only does it look great on those screens (and you get the expanded aspect ratio), but it also sounds incredible. The sound mix here is a beast, and the sound design was absolutely terrifying. It worked so well to create the suspense and feelings of dread! I even loved what they did with the soundtrack, from the fantastic score with notes of Western style, to the mix they did for “Sunglasses at Night” which was so chilling.
And how could I not talk about the cast? They were incredible! Keke Palmer had so much energy and was just so much fun to watch, but I really loved Daniel Kaluuya as the more stoic hero… felt like a very lone gunslinger type. He communicated so much to the audience in so little words, it was such a skilled performance. Their performances also matched so well, you could feel their sibling-like chemistry! Brandon Perea’s character was also such a surprise too, he was easily my favourite! I wish Steven Yeun was in it a little bit more, but I loved what he did with the time he had.
"Nope" absolutely stunned me! It’s so refreshing to see a big, well made, wholly original blockbuster oozing with style and tension. The movie probably won’t be for everyone, but at least for me I thought it was truly awesome. My eyes were glued to the screen the entire time, my hands clutching the seat rest, I had such a good time watching it! And since watching it, I can’t stop thinking about the themes it explored and all the deeper meanings behind the thrilling set pieces. Jordan Peele is truly a talented director, and if you are a fan of film you have to see this on the biggest screen possible and experience it for yourself! I can’t wait to see what Jordan Peele has in store for us next, as I loved the spectacle, thrills and thematic content he brought us with “Nope”.
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IMDb Rating: 7.6/10
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 82%
RT Audience Score: 71%
Metacritic Score: 76
CinemaScore: B
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Universal
Written, Produced & Directed by Jordan Peele
Cast: Daniel Kaluuya, Keke Palmer, Brandon Perea, Michael Wincott, Steven Yeun
Runtime: 2hr 10min
Rating: 14A
Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
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The residents of a lonely gulch in inland California bear witness to an uncanny and chilling discovery.
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Fun Fact: Jordan Peele said he wrote the script "at a time when we were a little bit worried about the future of cinema. So the first thing I knew is I wanted to create a spectacle. I wanted to create something that the audience would have to come see."
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