Jordan Peele’s third horror film puts the audience in the hot seat with its heavy themes and expert composition.
My three-word review for Jordan Peele’s Nope: See this movie.
My six-word review: SEE THIS MOVIE RIGHT F**KING NOW.
I will be upfront and say I really disliked Us. I thought it was a very well-shot film that showed its hand way too early and far too often for my taste. While I loved the concept up until the third act, I thought that it didn’t recapture the spark of Get Out and how that film reveled in the suspense and the mystery of it all.
But Nope does dwell on the atmosphere of the unknown, it has the mystery pumping through the film’s veins and giving it the lifeblood to hook you and keep you glued to your seat. So, when I say Nope is by and large the best of the three films, trust me on this one. On all fronts, it is a masterpiece, and it left me wanting more as I sat stunned in the theatre over the course of the credits.
Nope follows the Haywood siblings: the pragmatic, skilled & softspoken Otis Jr., or “OJ”, (played by Daniel Kaluuya), and the jack of all trades charmer Emerald (Keke Palmer). Disillusioned by Hollywood and the horse training business inherited from their father, the brother and sister become aware of the unidentified flying object skulking around the isolated mountain range their ranch is in, and the duo endeavor to be the first people to record it.
That’s about as much of the plot I can tell you without ruining the film, so let’s talk about our leads. I’m sure Keke Palmer’s going to be getting a lot of love given she is the film’s main source of levity, delivering an incredibly funny performance. But who I really enjoyed was Daniel Kaluuya. He plays the demure and tired OJ with a strong, silent delivery that is carried through his eyes. He’s got this one-of-a-kind on-screen presence, playing a character whose youth belies the amount of struggle and misery he’s had to go through. His onscreen chemistry with Palmer brings us a stellar portrayal of siblings who, despite all their differences and disagreements, have an undoubted and powerful love for each other.
Steven Yeun is incredibly charismatic as former child star Ricky “Jupe” Park, as is Brandon Perea’s techie Angel Torres who both make up the small supporting cast. Michael Wincott’s cinematographer Holst is the dark horse of the production who delivers a gravelly and memorable performance despite his short time on screen.
Besides Kaluuya’s stellar performance, his time on screen encapsulates how good Peele’s direction and framing of his actors is. Thanks to Hoyte Van Hoytema (regular cinematographer to directorial darling Christopher Nolan), we get plenty of dynamic movement with an unearthly smoothness. There are many strong, deft camera pans that follow the movement of characters and give you borderline point-of-view shots that are wholly unique to this film. Shots in this film pull from a gamut of references to the cinematic canon, ranging from more conventional science fiction and horror like Close Encounters, Fire in the Sky, andCloverfield to even one peculiar but fun reference to the anime film Akira (no, seriously!).
Peele doesn’t have just a masterful control of the camera, but the lighting and coloring as well. Palette-wise, lush black and rich dark blues make up most of the film’s nighttime shots, so try to see this in a Dolby Cinema or IMAX theatre because the film will benefit from that. Pair all of this with a triumphant and masterfully crafted soundtrack, and I genuinely can’t find a thing about this movie I dislike.
Truly, everything in Nope is deliberate and meticulously orchestrated. Everything down to the smallest one-off sight gag from early on being reincorporated in the finale is ingeniously planned down to the second, a hallmark of how he is a sniper with his films: only precision shots that leave you floored.
Fair warning, I will be discussing the film’s themes here, so skip to the Bottom Line if you want to go in blind. Reader discretion is advised.
Beyond its perfectly set-up story, Nope masterfully explores the grotesqueries of cinematic exploitation. The whole film makes you really ponder about who suffers to bolster our demanding and insatiable film industry, mainly through the use of screen animals.
When I say the “Gordy” segment of the film had me clutching the arms of my seat in the cinema, I don’t say that with an ounce of exaggeration. I cannot overstate how powerfully this film delves into the notions of spectacle coming at the cost of not only our animal companions, but our humanity as well, and the fact that the film’s villain is so expertly tangled into this strain of thought is what astounds me the most.
Theme talk ends here.
Bottom Line: A film whose runtime is put to perfect use, capped off with a finale that will leave you breathless and astounded by how Peele composes a story about family, our egos, and the creation of movies themselves. If it isn’t the best horror film of the year, Jordan Peele’s Nope definitely has some of the most gut-wrenchingly terrifying scenes in horror this year. Run to the theatre and watch this expeditiously– you won’t be disappointed.