NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE
I love it when a movie is good.
Quick Warning For This Post: It will be split into two parts. A spoiler-free Nope review/breakdown/analysis and a SPOILER-centric review with thoughts and whatnot. Be warned!
Assorted Thoughts About Nope Pt. 1 (No Spoilers)
The thing about movies is that a lot of them are pretty good.
I know that I can be harsh on here and pan something that others like, but I’m often comparing the film to my expectations or against other movies. Yes, there are trainwrecks and flops and things that just don’t work—for example, I saw Where the Crawdads Sing and Elvis recently—but for the most part, I’m not going to gripe about two hours in a cold, dark room in which millions of dollars are displayed before me telling intricate and artistic stories.
Of the 51 new releases I’ve seen so far this year (jesus christ), 38 of them are three stars or higher in my convoluted hierarchy. This means that 38 of them are worth seeing in one respect or another and even a bunch of the 2.5 ones were entertaining and/or interesting.
I’m an asshole, but I think that I’m a fair asshole.
After seeing so many movies, however, there comes a point where archetypes and generic plots become hollow. I’ve seen this before may come across as a lame critique, but it’s also true. There’s nothing worse than a retread, or something that comes across as a cynical cash-grab.
Nope is neither of those things. It’s an absurdly-creative endeavor by Jordan Peele that feels like a 21st-century horror movie through and through. It’s been compared to our generation’s Jaws for good reason. There are plot points that make this reference ring true, but at its core, Nope is popular entertainment surrounded by a thick coat of true terror.
The scariest part of the movie to me is the least science-fictiony. Yes, aliens and monsters and Twilight Zone-esque plot devices are scary. But you know what’s really scary? That which is directly in front of us.
Director Jordan Peele admitted that Nope was written during the pandemic and it seems like a direct reference to the times we’ve been living in without coming off as explicit. The supernatural is equally as terrifying as more plausible scenarios.
I’ve seen some negative reviews already for Nope and that’s going to happen. It’s fine. Art isn’t meant to touch every single person the same way, but I can’t imagine leaving the theater and thinking that a movie like this is bland or boring.
There’s so much care and time put into every decision and shot, and that makes this movie worth seeing. More than the twists and characters and [redacted], you should check out Nope because it’s a summer blockbuster with something to say about the times we’re living in.
The more I think about this movie, the more questions and ideas I have. Speaking of…
Assorted Thoughts About Nope Pt. 2 (Spoilers)
As great as Daniel Kaluuya, Keke Palmer and Brandon Perea are in this movie, I keep on returning to the Steven Yeun/Ricky ‘Jupe’ Park side-story about the failed sitcom at the core of the film.
Quick refresher: In the late 90s, the filming of a television show goes awry as a chimpanzee on set loses its shit after hearing a balloon pop. What follows is a bloody mess shown from different perspectives sporadically throughout Nope.
Gruesome and hard to watch, the thing that really stood out to me was the blood-speckled shoe standing straight up, at least according to Jupe’s point-of-view. My initial thought—because of the dynamics of the movie—was that aliens or mystical forces were involved in keeping this shoe’s fantastical positioning, but the more I think about it, the less I believe my own hypothesis.
I think it just happened and it was an example of a bad miracle that Kaluuya’s character harps on throughout the movie.
Instead of taking this as a sign to escape show-business, Jupe uses this traumatizing moment as a way to bolster his own notoriety, keeping a little mausoleum to the terror and charging for it. It’s the same thing that the alien-hunting squad is trying to do … capitalize on horror after a bad miracle.
Furthermore, it’s the same story but with one as a more realistic example of what could happen and the other featuring the outlandish possibility of aliens. There’s never a moment where a character tries to connect to the UFO—a la E.T. or Arrival or Lilo & Stitch and countless other examples—all that matters is using this odd occurrence to make money, gain fame and become someone that matters.
There’s a doubling between the A-plot and B-plot from a balloon popping to messing with nature leading to disarray. The stories blend into each other to expand on the main ideas that Peele is trying to get his audience to focus on.
The spectacle of it all is both remarkable for the viewer and also in purposefully-direct contrast to the point that the movie wants to make. People will watch chaos and see despair up-close, as long as there’s a payoff on the other side. The TMZ character is the living embodiment of this idea and his eventual demise signifies what Peele thinks about this phenomenon and how it envelops us in our worst impulses.
As I mentioned above, this is a movie about the times we’re living in, and this ethos that every character has (in one way or another) best exemplifies this. There’s no longer any desire to learn, only manipulative ploys and get-rich-quick schemes.
As Jupe is seconds away from his death, he has the same expression on his face that he did on Gordy’s Home. He had a chance to escape and use his backstory as a wake-up call but he doubles down instead, taking his family, crowd and child-star coworker along with him.
The end of it all is hollow. Yes, the protagonists “accomplished” their mission. But at what cost? Their family is depleted. Their home is ruined. All they really have is trauma and a single photo. Maybe they make some money off of the “Oprah Shot,” but like Jupe, they didn’t learn any real lessons. If something like this happens again, they’ll surely try to capitalize and ignore the warnings. Nothing really changes. All that comes is eventual devastation.
Like every great horror movie, the scariest thing is us. It always has been and always will be. Jordan Peele gets it and turns it into one of the best movies of the year and one that’s going to stick with me for a long time.
Oh, also, it’s fun as hell. That’s my official review.