NOPE (2022)
Updated: Dec 10, 2022
Lightning Strikes a Third Time for Writer/Director Jordan Peele
Grade: A-
Spoiler Alert!
Nope is the latest effort in horror from Jordan Peele. Previously known for his comedic antics with Keegan-Michael Key, Peele made his big break in the movie business when he wrote and directed Get Out (2017), a frightening satire which won him the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. He found further success with Us (2019), a spine-tingling thriller with a shocking twist ending. Both these films flirted with science fiction, but Nope embraces this genre. It continues the writer/director’s trend of combining social commentary with horror while delivering one of sci-fi’s most unique menaces.
The film takes place in the desert community of Agua Dulce, California. OJ Haywood (Daniel Kaluuya) and his sister, Emerald (Keke Palmer), are two African-Americans who live on a horse ranch they inherited from their father, Otis (Keith David). At the story’s outset, Otis is killed when a mysterious rain of metal objects from the sky lodges a nickel in his brain. Six months later, OJ is trying to continue the ranch’s business of renting horses to film productions but is unable to get the producers of a new project to see eye-to-eye with him. The early scenes effectively contrast the two siblings, as OJ is laid-back and stoic, no doubt still reeling from his father’s death. Emerald, on the other hand, is more outgoing and tries to get the attention of people who may be interested in her other lines of work.
OJ and Emerald start to notice strange things going on around the ranch. Horses disappear. The power inexplicably goes out. A cloud hovering above the mountains doesn’t appear to have moved in six months. Then OJ sees an object darting between the clouds in the night sky-an object he and Emerald suspect to be an alien spacecraft, which they resolve to capture on film. But after setting up cameras over the farm with the help of a local store employee (Brandon Perea), they discover that the true nature of the phenomenon is much weirder-and more horrific-than they could have imagined.
Unlike with Get Out, the social commentary in Nope is much more subtle and may not even be apparent to viewers while watching. One possible interpretation is how easily fame and fortune can come to some groups of people, while others have to put in hard effort for it. Early in the film, OJ is forced to sell a horse named Lucky to Ricky “Jupe” Park (Steven Yuen), the owner of a local cowboy-themed amusement center and former child actor. A chilling intro, which is later revisited in flashback, details how Park was part of a TV sitcom that became a blood bath when a chimpanzee ran amuck and killed every actor except him. This tragedy propelled the show to notoriety and ironically made Park comfortably well-off.
Meanwhile, OJ and Emerald are struggling with their ranch. Renting horses to studios does not guarantee fame, and the death of their father puts the family business in jeopardy as they try to find work for the animals. With the arrival of the UFO, they think they may have hit pay dirt. Emerald’s dogged determination to record the object may seem selfish until one realizes it may be her and OJ’s best hope for the future.
Indeed, everyone who notices the UFO becomes inspired to use it for their own ends. Park tries to further his popularity by feeding a horse to it in front of a live audience. A cameraman named Antlers Holst (Michael Wincott) initially helps the family with is special camera. And a cyclist from TMZ appears in the middle of the protagonists’ plan to film the object. But they all end up paying a price when the apparent spacecraft shows its true colors. In the end, viewers would likely feel happy for those who will ultimately profit from it.
The gradual reveal of the ship’s true nature is suspenseful and horrifying. At first the characters-and we-are led to believe it is a traditional flying saucer sucking up horses and metal. But Peele sidesteps this expectation when Park and the audience of his show are sucked up into the dark, red maw of something much too organic to be a metal spaceship. As the film progresses, further details about it emerge, yet so much more remains a mystery. What exactly is this thing? The movie doesn’t say, and it is all the better for it. Whatever it is, it’s not what anyone might expect. And it’s big.
The moments of horror, when they come, are amazingly executed. There are some amusing false leads when apparent aliens on the farm turn out to be either a praying mantis or kids in disguise. But when the object, named “Jean Jacket” by OJ, starts to feed, things get scary. It swoops down out of clouds, vacuums up everyone who looks at it, disgorges victims’ blood on the farmhouse, and drops unwanted food to the ground with devastating consequences. Day and night are equally scary times of day, thanks to the IMAX cameras used by Peele and his crew to vividly capture the barren, quiet desert mountains underneath the rolling clouds. The whole area looks beautiful as well as forbidding and ominous, perfectly setting up inevitable attacks by the entity.
Only time will tell how Nope will rank among Jordan Peele’s movies. Yet if it proves one thing, it’s that he is still on a roll. He still knows how to set up a story, make it scary, and include social commentary in it. It may not have the biting satire of his first feature or the disturbing plot of the second. But it effectively subverts the classic Alien Encounter story with interesting twists in a thrill ride that is both exhilarating and clever. It is definitely not your typical UFO flick.
Director: Jordan Peele
Screenplay: Jordan Peele
Producers: Jordan Peele, Ian Cooper
Cast: Daniel Kaluuya (OJ Haywood), Keke Palmer (Emerald Haywood), Steven Yuen (Ricky "Jupe" Park), Brandon Perea (Angel Torres), Michael Wincott (Antlers Holst), Wrenn Schmidt (Amber Park), Keith David (Otis Haywood Sr.), Donna Mills (Bonnie Clayton), Barbie Ferreira (Nessie), Devon Graye (Ryder Muybridge)
Rated: R (for language throughout and some violence/bloody images)
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