How great is it that we have someone like Jordan Peele being in the position that so few filmmakers get to be in these days? After two critically and commercially successful horror films, he’s continuing to use his power to put out original films, with increasing budgets at his disposal. His latest film, Nope, is his biggest to date, with a reported $68 million budget and the use of IMAX cameras. In the age of indie directors being picked up after one modestly successful project, and thrown into the grind of the franchise machine, it’s nice to see an artist fully develop and grow on their own terms.
Nope features Peele bringing his social horror sensibilities into the sci-fi genre. It follows a brother and sister duo, OJ (Daniel Kaluuya) and Em Haywood (Keke Palmer), who own a ranch that has been in their family for generations, providing horses for films, but they are now slowly running out of gigs. However, they come to realize that there is something in the sky that is causing some strange phenomenon – what appears to be a UFO. They decide to work on getting clear, undeniable footage, the impossible shot, which could hopefully garner them fame and fortune.
Part of what makes Peele such an exciting American pop filmmaker is his ability to weave ideas into his films that actively encourage his audience to engage intellectually with the material. The genius of Get Out was the sheer number of visual metaphors and classic setups and payoffs that mainstream audiences are able to easily grasp, and feel good about reading into the themes of the film. However, Peele does dive deeper into more elaborate, complicated, and nuanced metaphors with his follow-up Us, which I found to be incredibly rich and effective, and he pretty much does the same here with Nope.
Nope isn’t as aggressively metaphorical as Us, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t jam packed with ideas and fascinations that clearly speak to Peele. There’s an element that explores the lost history of black figures in film history, the under-appreciation of people who work below the line, analog versus digital, and the nature of the film industry itself or “spectacle” (a word that is repeated throughout) as this brutal thing that consumes and spits out whatever and whomever it wants as soon as they’re done with it. Peele’s cineliterate side works overtime, tapping into reference points like Spielberg, 50s b-movies, westerns, and sit-coms to a truly great effect, enhancing the themes instead of referencing for the sake of referencing.
Though, I will say, while Us seemed to be a film that was more idea forward than anything else, all that stuff seems to take a backseat in Nope. In the sense that, the ideas are all there for you to piece together and think about, but Peele is really crafting this to be a thrill ride first and foremost. This is him doing spectacle on a massive scale, and it is genuinely impressive to see. His craftsmanship is on point, and all the technical elements are stellar, from Hoyte van Hoytema’s Earthy and vista encompassing cinematography to Nicholas Monsour’s cleverly timed and impactful editing to Michael Abels’ incredible score, his finest yet, one that is both adventurous and deeply sinister. Sets are also great, but I have to give a shoutout to the team behind the sound design because that is maybe the technical highlight of the film. That alone makes this worth seeing on the biggest, loudest screen possible.
As you can probably tell, I really dug the hell out of Nope. I truly think Jordan Peele keeps getting better and better as a filmmaker as he goes along, and with this film, he just happens to be pushing all the right buttons for me. I love movies that involve space and aliens, that’s one of those easy hits for me, and he’s doing things with UFOs here that I don’t think I’ve really seen before, at least not on this scale and scope, and it’s rare to see something so fresh from a studio picture like this this. As much as this film grabs and pulls from so many sources throughout film history, it feels wholly its own, and does new and interesting things, and it utilizes its references to enhance the ideas that it brings up, but without using it as a crutch. And on top of all that, the performances are really strong and charming, Palmer in particular is a joy, and Steven Yeun, Brandon Perea, and Michael Wincott all leave a strong impression. The film is one hell of a ride, it grips you from start to finish, and the way it gradually gives you more answers as it goes along is really satisfying. If Get Out was Peele the crowd-pleaser, and Us was Peele the auteur, then Nope is the perfect blend of the two. I could honestly see myself checking this out again real soon.
Nope is now out in theaters.