ALIEN HORROR SUMMER - NO. 20: NOPE (2022) MOVIE REVIEW
We’ve now entered our unadulterated classics phase of our countdown, where each movie has a legitimate reason to be number one on our list. Our next entry is Jordan Peele’s 2022 tale about familial obligations and the trade-off you pay to observe a spectacle.
by Nate Lemann
A Jordan Peele film always has a lot on its mind. Starting with his breathless debut “Get Out”, you could tell this writer/director had a lot in common with Rod Serling, looking to make films where the thematic metaphors were supposed to outshine the spectacle of the story. His 2019 follow-up “Us” was made in a similar vein. In 2022, however, Peele gave us “Nope”, where the the spectacle was the point of the picture…or rather the folly of trying to capture a spectacle.
We open on the Haywood ranch, run by Otis, Sr. (a severely underutilized Keith David). The Haywoods are one of the only African American-owned horse wranglers in Hollywood, with their ancestor being the jockey who rode a horse in the first motion picture ever captured. His son OJ (Daniel Kaluuya) helps him run the ranch but is more of a background player in their business, lacking the charisma and showmanship that his father oozes and what you need to impress stuck-up Hollywood types. After a bizarre accident takes the elder Otis out of commission, it falls on OJ and his hustler of a sister, Em (Keke Palmer), to run and save their ranch. Suffice it to say, the two siblings don’t work well together.
To help make ends meet, OJ deals with Rickey “Jupe” Park (Steven Yeun), a local theme park magnate, to sell him horses that he intends to buy back once things turn in the Haywoods’ favor. We also come to learn that Jupe was the star of a short-lived sitcom as a kid, one that had a very public tragedy befall it when a chimp “actor” lost it on the crew during one fateful shoot. Jupe was spared and believes that is a sign that he is different than others who seek to tame nature in the service of spectacle. The chimp happened to view Jupe as its friend, even though nature is much more random than that.
As the Haywoods struggle to find the silver bullet to save their ranch, they make a startling discovery one fateful evening: in the clouds, over their ranch, appears to be hiding a UFO, one that moves with unnatural speed and ease. Seeking to capitalize on this strange turn of events, the Haywoods look to get the “Oprah” shot of the UFO and sell it for a fortune. They end up enlisting local electric store employee Angel (Brandon Perea) and cinematographer legend Antlers Hoist (Michael Wincott) to help them get that impossible shot. As they get closer to getting their picture, they begin to realize that this UFO may not be exactly what they think it is.
Peele is obviously borrowing heavily from “Jaws”, creating a monster picture that holds back clear views of its antagonist until the right, opportune moments. Peele’s biggest strength in this picture is in how he treats his monster, giving frightening hints and glimpses of its destructive power, letting the viewer fill in the horrific gaps with their imagination. He also has a very strong grip on his theme, as could be expected from him. Peele is positing here that no matter how in control we feel of beasts we tamed for entertainment purposes, we are one horrific moment away from that beast ripping our heads clean off. Nature was not meant to be tamed and it is folly for us to ever think we could ever hope to hold dominion over it, let alone make it our pet for amusement’s sake.
Kaluuya is a terrific lead: OJ may be an awkward and ill-fitted for the entertainment industry, but he has a deep well of decency and respect for nature. His awkwardness makes him seem initially weak but his wallflower persona is exactly what makes him the right person to see this UFO for what it truly is and why they need to tread lightly in their pursuit of it. Yeun is magnetic in his brief screen time. He is a man who has deluded himself to think he is untouchable and a great performer because he was the only survivor of that childhood trauma. He fails to see the danger that is lurking in the skies above him. Perea is fairly fun in this, a nervy conspiracy theorist who can’t believe his fortune of getting dragged into this crazy scenario. Wincott…my god, has anyone had a more iconic voice than this guy? It sounds like he swallowed a pale of rocks and gravitas. Love that Peele brought this guy back from out of the darkness to shine in this great role. Palmer is a supernova of charisma, but I’m afraid her character is really written as a hateful person, a selfish narcissist who will hustle anyone she needs to. The parts of the movie that rely on us to root for her I feel fell flat because we never get a redemption arc that makes us feel she deserves to be saved.
As far as the spectacle of it all, Peele and DP Hoyte van Hoytema truly deliver some of the most Spielbergian sequences this side of the famed directed we’ve had in quite some time. The rain storm sequence is pure nightmare fuel and delivered in such a unique and disturbed way. The finale has some of the most bizarre and fascinating designs I’ve ever seen. It’s like nothing you could’ve imagined going into the film.
Peele remains a creator with lots on his mind but this one feels like an evolution as he learns how to make the sweeping blockbuster epic that the greats become known for.
FINAL RATING: 3.5/5 Stars (Spectacle and wonder in this horror epic)
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