Nope review: Jordan Peele’s alien-invasion thriller is mostly hot air

Around halfway through Nope — Jordan Peele’s sci-fi Western horror follow-up to UseAnd Move Out, centered around two Black siblings training horses for Hollywood projects — Emerald (Keke Palmer) explains to her curt brother OJ (Daniel Kaluuya) why she lives such a disappointed life. Otis was their father, Keith David. He promised them a horse. But instead she brought OJ into training him. The Scorpion KingAs a father-son venture. Ever since then, she’s only been nominally interested in the family business.

As she tells her story, the lens tightens around Emerald’s face while tears stream down her cheeks. OJ sits, tight-jawed, aware of his sister’s anguish but unable to emotionally engage with her. The scene captures the siblings’ broad beats, but its deployment so late in the film keeps it from landing with the force Peele probably hoped for. It’s a recurring issue throughout Nope.

Maybe that running lack of impact has to do with Peele’s unwillingness to let NopeYou should tell more than just winking references. Maybe it’s because he’s uninterested in exploring the inner lives of his characters, who largely coast on repetitive punchlines and cloying sentimentality. The biggest surprise is the tight-lipped. Nope is that it’s Jordan Peele’s weakest film.

[Ed. note: Setup spoilers ahead for Nope.]

Universal Pictures

Emerald and OJ are, as one character backhandedly calls them, “Hollywood royalty.” They’re descendants of the largely forgotten Black man riding a horse in Eadweard Muybridge’s Horses in MotionIt is believed to have been the first movie in history. They live with their siblings in the shadow of the movie industry, just like horses they trained. That territory doesn’t really bother the quiet, closed-off OJ. But it’s partly why Emerald is so captivated with breaking into Hollywood. She doesn’t want to be erased like her forefather, or like the other Black creatives who’ve inhabited Hollywood for decades.

Peele’s script should let the audience in on feeling her desire. There’s a justness to her frustration and hope that should prompt a swelling of the heart, or at least a rooting interest. The audience is unable to keep their eyes on her fast-paced pitch to a crew of film directors about her artistic passions. Apart from her role as a showbiz grifter, who is Emerald? Peele has only moderate interest in finding the answers to this question.

In building the monster components of his creation, he has more control Nope, though it’s also messy. The simplistic plot first maneuvers through tragedy: Small objects mysteriously tear through the sky, striking and killing OJ and Emerald’s father in the opening scene. The father leaves the ranch to their sons, who are deep in debt. They begin selling horses to local Western-themed amusement park owner Ricky “Jupe” Park (Steven Yeun), a former child star who survived a murderous chimp rampage on his television show in the 1990s. A series of bizarre occurrences occur at Haywood Ranch. The rain of keys and coins causes horses to run wild, and the power goes out. This creates a horrific soundscape and screams that fill the brushland.

OJ is shocked when he sees a UFO in the sky. He and Emerald plan to record the object and then use it to make themselves famous and rich. Initially, the UFO’s intentions appear unclear: Is it a friend, a foe, or something unknowable? OJ only knows not to look directly at the ship, which it takes as aggression or interest — a major hang-up, considering that the siblings want to film the craft.

Universal Pictures

It’s important to consider the interest Nope Jupe takes in Hollywood’s vapidity and machine-grinding ways of reducing creative spirits to shadows. Jupe keeps a collection of souvenirs from his television nightmares. The characters, in spite of the danger, can’t help but look at the UFO, because they feel the need to take pictures of it like fans seeking selfies with celebrities. Even a TMZ photographer is willing to put his life on the line for a shot. Peele is the only one who can offer a incisive perspective on this heavy-handed, totemic element.

Nope There are many flights of entertainment. Peele manages to pull comedy and horror together in the first part. It is actually a very enjoyable ride. The frustration with this alien-invasion story doesn’t reside in the script not providing easy answers. The script’s inability to provide easy answers is not the problem. Instead, Peele uses the unanswered questions and obfuscations as an asset. Peele is able to use the small details as a way of referencing a wide range of sources. Fire in the SkyTo Buck and Preacher, Saturday Night Live, and a wide gamut of Steven Spielberg’s filmography.

Peele has the freedom to change his mood and tone at will. Hoyte Van Hoytema is the cinematographer for this eerie, close encounter scene. He uses dim lighting and framing techniques to instill fear. The tension is punctured when OJ says the film’s title, sharply dropping the horror elements in search of laughs.

Universal Pictures

Nope’s larger issue lies in the ways in which Peele’s script perpetually stops short of adding up all the moving parts into a whole. Peele feels stuck in trying to create a monster blockbuster film and also wanting to draw out more thematic depth from this intriguing concept. Peele’s first instinct is a good one. NopeHis most accessible film, with its humor and openness to interpretation, is this one. These films leave it to Palmer and Kaluuya, who can create more rich interior lives for their characters that Peele could. With his funny, witty face, both actors are able to sell sight gags with ease. And both actors have a real attachment to the people they’re playing, even when they’re left retooling the dialogue’s repetitive beats. Brandon Perea provides further heaps of enjoyment as a geeky IT guy who’s also left underdeveloped as a mere comedic foil.

The film’s unwieldiness could be excused if it weren’t so bloated. Splitting the narrative into separate chapters makes it difficult to maintain a pacing especially during the final hour. A set-piece where OJ and Emerald bait the UFO closer to their cameras appropriately involves inflatable tube men — no pun intended, but it’s as elongated and overstretched as they are. Peele relies on wishful thinking moments which make no logical sense within this film’s framework. The movie’s climactic scene is diminished by the use of radio chatter and the late inclusion of Michael Wincott, a brooding but eccentric cinematographer who has little emotional connection to the audience. It’s another instance of an attempted swing at a bigger thematic punch that never quite lands because it’s so narrow and surface level.

To call it would be too costly Nope It’s a terrible movie. Even in Peele’s lack of precision, plenty of good qualities lurk underneath the knottier shortcomings. But this horror flick doesn’t rise to the levels of Move Out Or Use, either. It isn’t because in this case, Peele isn’t trying to teach white people to understand the full scope and feeling of racism. It’s because NopeIt is more of an idea than a tale. It’s a collection of individually captivating scenes, as opposed to an intriguing whole. It’s a handsome picture, but Peele is far too impressed with its handsomeness to work on populating it with fully felt characters. It might enthrall audiences, and it might frighten them, but it’ll struggle to stay with them after the credits start to roll.

NopeOn July 22, the movie opens in theatres