Nope

By Jonah Naplan

July 29, 2022

There’s a lot that, with some careful thought, makes a lot of sense in “Nope.” But there’s also a lot that doesn’t. It may take subsequent viewings to ensure that I entirely understand what Jordan Peele’s film is trying to say. There are so many moving pieces and ideas at hand, that it would take a while to organize them neatly, whatever that may entail. But I love movies like this. Movies that test your will strength to keep watching. Movies that are so creative to the point that they make you jealous. And this is a really great example of one of those films. There may be some issues in the third act, and sure, maybe the confusing conclusion dissatisfied me whilst leaving the theater. But it’s clear that Jordan Peele is proud of the movie’s final product. And that alone is a heroic achievement.

I was a little late to the party seeing “Nope.” But I finally saw it today at a screening in a massive IMAX theater. It was called an “IMAX Dome,” meaning that the picture surrounded the audience entirely. As the first trailer before the movie began to play, I started to get worried that the ginormous scale of the screen would be distracting, and would deteriorate from my experience. I feel very lucky that wasn’t the case. Seeing “Nope” in IMAX is actually the best way to experience the film, especially when director Jordan Peele and always brilliant cinematographer, Hoyte van Hoytema go for big, beautiful landscape shots.

“Nope” takes place on a hot ranch in inland California, with picturesque mountains in the background, and beautiful clouds hovering in the sky. When the film begins, we don’t realize at first how important those clouds will soon become. On this ranch live Hollywood horse trainers, OJ and Emerald Haywood, a brother-sister duo that ground the film as the two protagonists. The siblings are played by Daniel Kaluuya and Keke Palmer, and they have such a wonderful and charming dynamic, making a poignant moment towards the end all the more powerful. Both personas feel so genuine, so real. Particularly Palmer, who gives a commanding but comedic performance, providing some of the movie’s biggest laughs. It’s interesting. In addition to Palmer’s one-liners, the movie is at its funniest when characters simply utter the title of the movie in the face of great danger. “Nope!” they say quickly, backing away from whatever horror stands in front of them. And it’s ironic because most of the scares are false alarms, particularly one involving children in costumes. The scariest thing about the movie is actually more disturbing than frightening. It’s an out-of-control monkey named Gordy, that is only shown in flashbacks of a family sitcom gone wrong. Those scenes provide the most unnerving and most suspenseful moments in the entire film. And the monkey plotline doesn’t even end up being all that important. It detracts from the UFO plotlines that the movie really focuses on, which contributes to the film’s inconsistencies, but it doesn’t matter much, because the film may have marketed itself as being horror, but it’s actually more of a sci-fi/thriller.

Jordan Peele very clearly forms his inspiration around classics such as “Jaws,” “2001: A Space Odyssey,” and “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” movies that were made in a period in which they were ahead of their time. In the next couple decades that followed, more films were made like those three. But we haven’t gotten another film quite fitting to that genre in a long time. It’s just another reason why “Nope” is so refreshing to watch, in addition to its originality. “Nope” reminds me of a movie that Steven Spielberg would have made in the eighties. A film so happy-go-lucky, and one that soars with so much creative freedom, that only a master of the art form could have helmed it. But over the past few years, Peele has proved himself as such. He’s a master of his own style, and of his own characters. Everything in “Nope” leaps off the screen, bursting with creative joy.

A keen eye will notice the tiny details that Peele sets up in his film, cleverly tying them up in the third act in little ways that are no easy task to pull off. (You may recognize the inflatable men from the marketing campaign). The way he lingers on certain shots, panning to important details in some scenes, is an art form that requires much more thought than you’d think. “Nope” is a very well thought-out movie which is much of the reason why it doesn’t completely make sense. Even some of the most iconic movies are flawed. But that doesn’t detract from their greatness. Movies in that genre are intended to be open-ended. They encourage you to consider every last detail, and have a long  conversation with a friend about certain implications. With a film like “Nope,” it’s easy to forgive its occasional clumsiness, and just sit back and admire its beauty. It’s rare that a film can be so compelling with such a tight pace, and limited characters.

In addition to Kaluuya and Palmer, the movie includes the likes of Steven Yeun, Brandon Perea, and Michael Wincott. Yeun’s character is mostly attached to the Gordy plotline, but gains much more significance during a sequence at a carnival of sorts, where he claims everyone in attendance will have their lives changed in the next hour. Perea works at Fry’s Electronics—notice the UFO attached to the front of the building—and is pivotal towards helping the Haywoods figure out exactly what is happening at their ranch. Horses run away, power cuts out, and clouds remain unmoving in the sky. The Haywoods rely on this employee of a discontinued retail chain to come to the rescue. Finally there’s Wincott, who plays a character dedicated to photographing things that could be dubbed “out of the ordinary.” The siblings consider him to be the only person who can get a decent shot of these foreign invaders. (Notice the use of cameras throughout the film. Something big that comes to mind is the wishing well at the carnival that will take your photo as you look down into it).

Each of these characters provide their intel on the plot’s odd and unexplainable string of events. The ways they connect to the story are very smart, but I’m sure there’s even more to unpack on a second viewing. Another thing I want to study more is the way the film is broken up into several chapters, each of which add depth to the film’s storyline. I haven’t seen a technique like that in a movie before. Well, I haven’t a movie like this before, period. 

“Nope” is pretty remarkable. But not surprisingly so. I think there’s a good chance it will become a classic of the recent years. It will be examined, broken apart, and studied. Film professors may even give lectures on it. I can only guess that the idea of that is more than Peele ever aspired to do. All he wanted was to make a good movie. And he did.