LM23 Rating: You’ll enjoy trying to solve the meaning of everything more than watching the movie itself
There are directors where when you see their name attached to a film, you know you will get something amazing from them. You don’t know exactly what, but you will give them all the benefit of the doubt. Jordan Peele has become one of those writer-directors where you can at least expect something meaningful.
Nope is just the third film directed by Jordan Peele, but critics and fans including myself have been waiting to see Nope as if it’s the tenth film he’s directed and he’s been directing movies for 20 years. Due to unforeseen circumstances, I was not able to see Nope during its opening weekend, but had to wait until now to see it. I managed to avoid all spoilers except for the comment that the alien element was not what you thought it was based on the trailers.
I’m a horror fan. Nothing really scares me. Aliens are not scary at all, but I know Jordan Peele is the man to change my mind or use aliens in such a way that I’ll be creeped out for the rest of the day. Unfortunately, Nope isn’t about aliens. Or, not the kind of alien that you think of when you think of aliens and a UFO. But before I get to the biggest disappointment about Nope, let’s start with what’s so great about it.
A unique world unto its own
If you’re looking for a familiar, cookie cutter premise, then Nope isn’t for you. As a fan of Jordan Peele, I know I will be transported to a quirky and crazy world that may actually be real, and that’s where I went for two hours.
Nope centers on a family horse training business run by the Haywood family. The family is made up of dad, Otis Haywood, Sr. (Keith David), son Otis Jr or OJ (Daniel Kaluuya), and daughter Emerald or Em (Keke Palmer). Together, they train horses for use in Hollywood productions like The Scorpion King. The patriarch of the family, Otis, one day dies unexpectedly after an object from the sky hits him in his eye. Son OJ had to be the one to drive his dad to the hospital where his dad unfortunately passed. With the passing of their father, it’s now on siblings OJ and Em to carry on the struggling family business.
Older brother OJ is the more serious and business-minded one. OJ is an expert at handling the horses and he understands their line of work--even though it’s within the fun and glamour of the bright lights--it’s still work. He doesn’t care to fawn over the talent or bow to the wishes of the production staff. His priority is the safety of his horses.
Younger sister Em relies more on her charisma and bubbly personality to win over potential clients in their pitches. And isn’t that just how work life is at any job? There are those who lean on their skills and keep their head down. And there are those who coast on their personality and work their social skills in order to make those deals to move ahead.
Loaded with meanings for your brain to solve
And that’s what I love the most about Nope. Unlike all of the movies I’ve seen this year, whether it’s Top Gun or Minions: The Rise of Gru or Thor: Love and Thunder, Nope is like a novel on film. You’re watching the film, but you’re highly aware that nothing is a coincidence. Nothing is there just because.
There is surely a hidden meaning behind everything from the names of the characters (OJ is definitely connected to that other infamous OJ) to the parallel story behind the monkey on the 90’s sitcom, Gordy’s Home. Even the song being played in the electronics store sales rep’s car, most likely means something. Cory Hart’s “Sunglasses at Night” plays on Angel's (Brandon Perea) car as he’s trying to out race the alien in the sky. Or is it? More on that later.
The lush landscape doubles as a creepy backdrop
The sprawling but isolated ranch where the Haywood family trains and houses their horses is a central figure in Nope. OJ and Em’s reality is already creepy because of the vast openness but hidden pocket of land that a trespasser claims is obscured on Google maps.
Every time the camera pans to the sky, there’s an instant chilling effect just from the palette of grays from the clouds. There’s a mystery to the land and the air because you don’t know what’s quite lurking out there. You’re a speck of dust against this landscape. I know that feeling because whenever I look at the back of my house and the front of my house, I see trees and mountains and it can look very sinister at night.
The strange unidentified object appears
One evening, one of the horses named Ghost is carried away into the sky. OJ witnesses this bizarre event and can’t quite explain to Em what he just saw. They do realize, however, that when the object appeared, all of the electricity was lost. OJ and Em then head down to the local Best Buy-like store called Fry’s Electronics to pick up all of the video camera equipment they can find to try to get the unknown object on film. OJ and Em believe they can potentially cash in on the attention that a picture or video can bring to them.
The sales guy, Angel, completes the setup of all of the cameras on their property. Angel is also curious to see if there really are aliens out there. And because he’s nosey, he decides to watch what’s going on in the cameras (even though it’s probably a privacy violation). Angel gets involved with the alien hunt when he realizes something strange with the clouds in the sky. As OJ said, it’s not a ship they’re looking for. It’s something else.
Angel shows a time lapse of the sky and only then do they see the problem. One cloud never moves during the entire time. This is probably the height of the movie’s suspense. Up until this point, there was nothing predicable or tired about Nope. Despite the fact not much really happens in the first half of the film, you still were hooked up to this point.
Is it an alien or not?
Things start to pick up when there’s a live event held at Jupiter’s Claim. Jupiter’s Claim is a nearby theme park that is owned and operated by Jupe (Steve Yeun) who is a former child actor on the Gordy’s Home sitcom. The theme park setup is a bit confusing because it’s also located way out there in the middle of nowhere, but beyond it being another space for there to be humans to be found, the necessity for Jupiter’s Claim isn’t really clarified. The Jupe character is also weakly connected to the main characters.
We see flashbacks of Jupe’s time as a child actor on Gordy’s Home and in particular the horrific day when Gordy the monkey became angry and attacked members of the cast. Only Jupe got away unscathed but only because Gordy was shot before he could attack him.
I knew all wasn’t what we thought it was when Jupe introduced one of his former co-stars. I should’ve known Nope wasn’t about aliens when there was an earlier fake out of alien creatures hiding in the stable. This was probably the most scariest part of the movie in that there was a direct interaction between the scary unknown and one of the main characters. But they weren’t aliens. They turned out to be Jupe’s kids pranking them.
The alien letdown
But I knew the letdown was starting when Jupe introduced his friend and former Gordy’s Home co-star. His friend survived the monkey attack but is now permanently deformed. This deformed alien-looking face is that same alien-looking woman we see in the trailer. I hate it when movie trailers fake us out like that.
As the show starts, the sky starts to rumble and everyone is engulfed with sand and debris from the wind. We now get to see what has been flying around in the sky. But not just that. We get to follow the people as they are sucked into this thing that appears like an alien spaceship, but it’s really some monster shaped like a UFO. When it sucks people into it, it’s actually eating them. And the monster does not like anything not human. It even despises inhaling model horses.
Whatever is not human flesh, is then spit out and falls from the sky. That is how OJ and Em’s dad died. During one of the monster’s feeding sessions, objects fell on the sky and one of them fell and hit OJ and Em’s dad on the head. Not only is it dangerous to be eaten by this thing, but it’s dangerous when the things it doesn’t eat fall from the sky.
The plan to film the object in the sky
OJ and Em are now determined to get this thing on film with the trick being how can they get it on film when electricity is cut off every time it comes around? OJ and Em contact Antlers Holst, the famous cinematographer. Em calls him up and pitches him the opportunity to capture the impossible and she is confident that only he can find a way to film the creature even without electricity.
And Em is correct. The team now comprised of Em, OJ, Angel, and Antlers, spend the next two days prepping the property for the next opportunity to film the creature. Now that they know for sure electricity is cut off every time it’s close, they use the large oversized balloons that are powered by electricity as signals of when the creature is near or far. The team is all decked out with the sophisticated gear from Fry Electronics and the home made camera that doesn’t need electricity to be powered.
The theme of the movie is pretty much revealed
At this point, you start to understand what the underlying theme of Nope is. It’s not aliens or “not of this earth” which some fans thought Nope stood for. The random TMZ photographer who trespasses on the property and tries to get a picture pretty much unveiled the hidden meaning behind the film.
The TMZ guy is on a motorcycle and he is wearing a peculiar helmet that makes his head look like a silver ball. I was surprised that such a literal and on the nose character was introduced when all this time there were enough hints to the theme of the movie. We didn’t need this final random character to realize what is really going on in Nope. He’s more like an SNL character that’s straight up literally stupid versus subtle and smart.
The TMZ guy gets sucked up by the monster as he refuses to listen to OJ and instead looks up at it to try to get a picture. As OJ discovered, just like with his horses, don't look at them in the eye to stay safe. And almost out of left field, Antlers also falls into that trap. Sunlight appears which I guess provides for a better picture and that is enough for Antlers to die trying to get a perfect picture.
That was another weak plot point. Antlers up to that point seemed like an honorable and professional guy. He and Angel worked in tandem together to get the creature on film. It didn’t make a lot of sense that he would suddenly risk his life for another picture.
And at that point, you think maybe Angel will sell out and do what's best for him, but he doesn't. That then leads me to wonder what was the major motivation for Angel to be so committed to helping OJ and Em again?
The creature is ultimately defeated when it sucks up a huge balloon character and implodes upon eating it. At the same time, Em was still able to get pictures of the creature with the theme park photo booth.
The weakest point of the movie
Perhaps the weakest point of the movie is the alien creature itself. The hungry creature in the sky, once it’s been fully revealed, is not scary at all. And not only that, it kind of looks like an unfinished mushroom or mollusk. There’s no razor sharp teeth to be seen although we see the blood that drips from the sky and not Em and OJ’s house. There’s no eyes. There’s also no real sound. The scary part was not knowing what it was and seeing a dark mass dart across the sky. But once we see what it is, it kind of looks like a weird jellyfish thing.
Yes, the movie is about the obsession with fame through a viral video and the dirty business of Hollywood. But if it’s done through a metaphor of an alien creature, we’re going to have to have a Ridley Scott alien show up. We’re also going to need some direct conflict and engagement between the creature and Em and OJ. The finale of the balloon boy being eaten by the creature wasn’t that scary or inventive. Since it was about risking your life for a video, maybe they could’ve had OJ get sucked into the creature, but film it while simultaneously destroying it.
Nope didn’t leave me scared or satisfied or anything. I loved Keke Palmer and Daniel Kaluuya. Most of the movie was not boring. But I didn’t really experience anything happening. I can’t pick a scene where something happened and it was a standout scene. It just seemed like a long build up waiting for something to happen. And although it was very entertaining as we kept waiting and waiting for something to happen, nothing really did happen even when it was finally happening.
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