Reviewed by Jerry Saravia
I've only seen one other Jordan Peele horror flick and that was "Get Out," which was a considerable improvement over most horror films during the 2010 era. "Get Out" had a purpose and a deliberate emphasis on what lies skin deep in our society with regards to racism. "Nope" is one of the strangest sci-fi horror pictures I've seen in many moons though I am not sure it is any deeper than "Get Out" but I'll accept what is on the surface as surprisingly absorbing.
The film begins with a shocking image of a bloodied chimpanzee who has presumably killed a woman laying on the ground (it turns out the woman survived). The chimp is Gordy and it is part of some TV program where something went terribly wrong. Right then you might assume you walked in to the wrong movie theater but wait. Cut to a horse ranch owned by Otis "OJ" Haywood Jr. (Daniel Kaluuya) and Emerald "Em" Haywood (Keke Palmer, the brightest spot of this movie) who rent out their horses for TV and film productions. When their horse gets startled during rehearsal, the Haywoods are let go and money thus proves to be tight which means selling their horses is their only monetary salvation. One night, the power goes out at their ranch as Em dances to an LP on stereo (oh, I love these people already) and Otis notices a flying disc in the clouds, not to mention lights that go on and off on the other side of his property. Of course those lights are part of a fun little Western theme park called "Jupiter's Claim," owned by Jupe (Steven Yeun) who was one of the kids that witnessed the violent Gordy the chimp back in 1998. Jupe, by the way, not only wants to buy a horse from Otis, he wants the ranch as well.
"Nope" is the type of sci-fi horror that builds slowly and you are not sure where it is headed. At first, the lights from the theme park struck me as an alien presence when in fact they are not. The UFO is actually not a ship, it is a monster with deep digestible tube in its portal. The objects from the sky that kill Otis's father (the always welcome Keith David) are from that UFO and they include silver coins and keys and other items, though at first you are not sure what is coming out of the sky. Once we notice this UFO monster is not a flying disc, then we know trouble is brewing as it resembles some huge weather balloon (unintended reference perhaps to the Roswell incident of 1947). This monster hides behind a motionless cloud and even after you are aware it is an alien presence, I wondered if Jordan Peele was about to drag the rug from under us and reveal some M. Night Shyamalan twist. Thankfully, that is not the case.
"Nope" is leisurely horror and its sci-fi elements are used sparingly (we don't why this alien is territorial and what its purpose is). It may confound many why this movie is nearly over two hours long but that hardly bothered me because I cared about the Haywood siblings and their unexpected goings-on. Daniel Kaluuya plays it so straight as OJ (funny use of those initials) and so unemotional, as if a UFO is the last thing that will intrude upon his life. I was also a little put off by Kaluuya's almost robotic performance yet I got used to it - one surmises that OJ has had his share of troubles in life already. Keke Palmer is fully alive as Em, a sprightly woman who wants to live and push beyond her boundaries. She feels restricted at this ranch yet feels inclined to help her brother out - they look out for each other. Also worth noting is the nosy electronics store clerk (Brandon Perea) who installs surveillance cameras at the ranch and knows instantly that it has to do with aliens! Well, gee, why else would you want surveillance cameras pointed upward? Perea provides some measure of comic relief during "Nope's" many solemn moments. Kudos to the underrated Michael Wincott as a famous cinematographer who wants to capture the UFO with an IMAX film camera. He also dabbles in footage of animal predators, which lends itself to the underlying theme of the movie - never look directly at a predator's eyes.
Somewhere between being an homage to "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" with a dash of the impending terror pounding sounds of Spielberg's "War of the Worlds" and "Jurassic Park," "Nope" is mostly successful at being spooky and captivating and there are a few scares here and there. After it was over, I began looking at the clouds in the sky and hoped there wasn't one immobile cloud. "Nope" has that curious effect - it sneaks up on you and makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up.
