Jordan Peele’s third directorial feature has its eye on the sky. Following two siblings (Daniel Kaluuya and Kiki Palmer) as they fight to capture proof of the impossible, Nope comments on everything from the Hollywood movie-making industry, life as a black American and our relationship to reality in the age of smartphones.
★★★✰✰
There’s something big sweeping over the hills, across the dusty plains and towards towns and cities all over the world. People are talking about it; there’s footage of it online; some say it’s unlike anything they’ve ever seen before. Is it a monster? Alien? Creature from another dimension? Nope. It’s Nope, the new Jordan Peele attraction at the cinema. And “attraction” is definitely the right word. Even without the film launching alongside a bona fide ride at Universal Studios, Nope joins the likes of flicks like Gravity and Mad Max: Fury Road in being a spectacle above all else. It’s an experience best savoured on a big screen, with readily-available cushions for any jaw-dropping incidents. Make no mistake though, there’s no big twist or revelatory moment in Nope. For as wild of a ride as it is, Peele’s latest film lacks the magnetic core that saw people dragging friends and family to repeated screenings of smash-hits Get Out and Us.
At the heart of Nope are siblings OJ (Daniel Kaluuya) and Emerald Haywood (Kiki Palmer). Following the death of their father (Keith David), they’re left responsible for the family’s generations-old horse ranch in California. It’s tough living, and the family is facing financial ruin, but opportunity presents itself when the odd noises and strange shimmerings in the sky end up being more than mere mirages. Armed with cameras and the kind of gumption that only comes from financial desperation, the two set out to find the million-dollar footage that’ll prove the existence of the unexplainable and erase their money worries forever.
Kaluuya and Palmer are a good match on screen, and it’s their characters’ opposing personalities that give the film both its soul and sense of stakes. OJ is stoic, hardworking and task-focused, more comfortable with the horses he grew up caring for than the Hollywood moviemakers he has to rent them out to. He’s a real Man With No Name-type, a Clint Eastwood without the .44 magnum. Emerald, as the sweet to OJ’s salty, is the human equivalent of a bouncy ball. She’s excitable and charming, with more side gigs than cares in the world. They’re as different as two characters can be, and they clash about as often as that implies. Despite that, it’s clear that they care about and understand each other. They’ve got each other’s backs. When OJ is stuttering and sweating in front of an expecting crowd, Emerald will be ready with a pitch, an anecdote and a joke or two to take the heat of the crowd. Likewise, when Emerald is buzzing around town on any one of a hundred hustles, OJ will rise dutifully at the first glimpse of dawn to keep the ranch running for when all those hustles end up dead-ends. It’s sweet, and it’s a relationship that’ll resonate with brothers and sisters (literal or figurative) everywhere.
They’re not alone on their quest, though. Nope is bolstered by a supporting cast that fleshes out the world and gives Peele an outlet for social commentary. There’s Angel (Brandon Perea), a techie with nothing but time and an obsession with the Ancient Aliens style of ‘documentary-making’. Antlers Holst (Michael Wincott) is a maverick documentarian with more than a touch of the eccentric about him. Most memorable, outside of the main duo, is Jupe (Steven Yeun), the owner of a nearby Wild West-themed tourist trap with his own disturbing backstory and a plan to capitalise off the great unknown. These characters represent a range of perspectives and motivations present in society today, a society defined by the ever-changing next hot trend, by the HD cameras in everyone’s pockets, by the global reach afforded to us by the internet. What conclusion, if any, audiences draw from these pieces is up to them, but the pieces are undoubtedly in place.
However, while Nope compares favourably to Us and Get Out in terms of providing meaty subtext and relevant social commentary to sink into, it falls short when it comes to being a unique, original film in its own right. That’s not the scathing criticism it may appear. Nope is a creature feature; it knows it, and it wants audiences to know it. If someone sits down to watch this expecting no twists, no Looney Tunes-style bait-and-switches where the horizon is actually a painting on the side of a mountain, they’ll be more than satisfied. If, on the other hand, they expect a genre-bending, reality-twisting subversion of cinematic conventions, they’ll be left sorely wanting.
The Verdict
Nope is big, engaging and genuinely likeable, with a cast of characters more than interesting enough to spend two hours with. That’s all it is, though. Hands and feet inside the carriage at all times with this one: there’s no straying from where the tracks lead.
Words by Jamie Davies
Nope is in UK cinemas now.
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