Nope

Movie Name: Nope
Year of Release: 2022
Director: Jordan Peele
Starring: Daniel Kaluuya, Keke Palmer, Steve Yeun, Michael Wincott, Brandon Perea, Wrenn Schmidt, Keith David, Devon Gaye, Jacob Kim, Barbie Ferreira, Donna Mills, Eddie Jemison
Genre: Mystery, Sci-Fi
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 6
Watch it on Amazon Prime

Synopsis and Review

After the successful "Us", writer/director Jordan Peele is back, with another interesting take on a well established genre, in this case the Alien visiting the planet, which has seen both its masterpieces such as Steven Spielberg's "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" and John Carpenter's "Starman", and those quite not as successful, such as Scott Derrickson's "The Day the Earth Stood Still" remake/adaptation. The narrative of "Nope" focuses on the Haywood family, which we learn has been training and handling horses for films for quite some time. The parental figure Otis Haywood Sr. is killed early on by a falling coin from the sky, which his son OJ assumes fell out of an airplane. OJ and his sister, the outspoken and live wired Em, inherit the ranch. In order to keep the ranch afloat OJ sells some of the horses to their neighbor Jupe, who operates a Western theme park. One night the siblings notice their horses vanishing, and discover a UFO hovering and capturing the animals. They decide to capture the existence of the alien on film, sell that footage and use the proceeds to keep the ranch going. They set up cameras all over the ranch, with the assistance of an employee from a local store. They also decide to hire a professional cinematographer for further assistance, but they soon realize that the alien disrupts the electricity and that the process may be far more complicated than they anticipated. 

The most interesting thing about "Nope" is how effective Jordan Peele builds both the set up for what is about to happen, and how he populates these events with characters possessed of interesting details that make them somewhat more vivid. The environment set up is very effective, since he manages to depict the reality of the ranch, but also the professional setting in which the siblings operate (the movie studio realities). The character definition is a bit trickier, since while at a first glance we get enough insight into what these characters do and how they interact with each other, we also soon realize that's all there is to them. They have just enough dimension not to be paper thin, but if you look a bit beyond it, there's really not much to them (why have they stayed in the ranch, what has shaped their relationships, etc.). Where the film starts to fizzle is ultimately in its premise of the Alien visitation aspect. While the narrative is focused on both capturing filmic proof of its existence and avoiding being captured by it, it's a scenario which seemingly and apparently on this day and age relies on the premise that no one else has captured any evidence of that entity. Steven Spielberg's "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" smartly positioned itself as a shared experience by multiple people who reacted and responded to that visitation. "Nope" and Jordan Peele position this entity as something nefarious, solely focused on that particular area (and that particular group of individuals). The lack of further dimension or explanation for this selection/target isn't detrimental, since a powerful and menacing inducing narrative can be built out of that economy of storytelling, but at the end, considering all that is set in motion, it mostly fizzles and feels undercooked (particularly in the final chapter). The cast is uniformly solid, as is the production team, with highlight going to the beautiful cinematography from Hoyte van Hoytema (who is truly formidable), and the score by Michael Abels. It's watchable, but not memorable.