NOPE (2022)
SPOILERS
Nope is Jordan Peele's latest horror thriller following the amazing Get Out and the alright Us. Starring Daniel Kaluuya as O.J., Keke Palmer as Emerald, Steven Yeun as Jupe, and Brandon Perea as Angel, we follow siblings O.J. and Emerald, the owners of the only black-owned horse trainers in Hollywood, as they begin to experience confusing and horrifying anomalies started with the death of their father. At first, these seem to be tied to the traditional concept of extraterrestrial visitors in the form of a UFO that is trying to abduct their animals, and they attempt to capture it on camera to financially save the ranch. However, through O.J.'s expertise it's soon discovered that this is not a ship, but rather a living creature hiding in the clouds. This also ties into Jupe, the owner of a small fair on the other side of the mountains who has been using the Haywood's horses as bait for the creature to turn it into an attraction before he gets himself and a small audience eaten. Now, with a greater understanding of the threat, O.J., Em, their technical assistance Angel, and a videographer named Antlers try to bait the creature, get it on film that cannot be destroyed by its natural EMP field, and ultimately kill the creature so it cannot continue to hunt or be used by others.
Going into this, I had heard fairly mixed reviews, probably the most from a Peele movie so far. I knew that some people loved it, some people thought it was alright, and some people hated it. So I was pleasantly surprised to find that I thought Nope was a fantastic movie, and have liked it more as time has gone on and I've seen more and more interesting breakdowns of its many possible interpretations and symbols. I mostly want to talk about the movie from that angle, but I will talk about the filmmaking aspects first. All the performances were great, but I especially liked Daniel Kaluuya once again. His bored attitude moving towards quiet reserve and knowledge is perfect, and he really encapsulates the western, cowboy vibe present in the film. Keke Palmer is also good and has been praised, but I would've like a little more depth into her personal journey to understand how she got to who she is and her separation from the family, especially with how much we understand Jupe as a character. Regardless, the writing of every character is great once again, feeling super natural and realistic while also mixing in hilarious moments. The score was also great, with some fantastic tracks that mix horror, suspense, and classic western epicness. Finally, I want to specifically mention the night shots. I did not even THINK to comprehend that these were shot in the daytime, and these are the best looking night shots ever. I can't stop thinking about it now. Like holy hell how is this even possible? It's a great looking movie overall especially in selling the terror of the creature, but that alone makes it amazing. Also, a miscellaneous complaint: the videographer is kind of a caricature of that spooky, ominous old man who speaks in riddles, and I wasn't sure if he was supposed to be intentionally funny or not. Odd fellow though.
Let's get into some specifics now, starting with the creature. I'm surprised how much this has stuck with me. I LOVE this thing as the center of a horror movie. Many have drawn comparisons with Jaws to this movie, and I think that's valid but this comes from an even more esoteric, interesting angle. In concept, I love the idea of these giant creatures in the sky, mirroring the idea of how little we know about the ocean. It doesn't really matter if these is an alien creature or something prehistoric. It's just cool to see this giant aquatic-looking creature moving through the sky. It also leads to the great thought that all UFO sightings are actually of these creatures, with abductees just being eaten and spat back out. That adds such a great little twist to something we already don't understand, and it's exactly the kind of new angle of looking at lore that I love. The creature is also a great subject of a movie in general. Its quiet, ominous presence that leads to sudden absolute chaos plays perfectly, with a great creepy texture that evolves into something beyond comprehension. It leads to some excellent horror scenes, whether that's seeing its interior while eating the crowd that nearly gives you claustrophobia or the clearly 80s-inspired blood pouring down the house. My only real complaint towards the creature is that I don't think the cloud is adequately explained, whether it's some kind of nest or a cloaking mechanism or what. That may tie into one of the themes, though.
The focus on the creatures lead perfectly into the themes and imagery of the movie, and it's so multi-layered that I'm not sure how cohesive this section will be. Nevertheless, Jordan Peele is perhaps my favorite creator in terms of packing so much theme and commentary in his films while still crafting extremely compelling narratives and character arcs. It is so easy to entirely underbake and underthink the themes of a movie, or to forego compelling story in terms of emotional reaction, but Peele straddles these perfectly. For example, as a starter, I didn't even CONSIDER that O.J. is not actually alive at the end of the movie until a YouTube video positing that the "Out Yonder" sign could have a deeper meaning, or that he could be dead but still on the horse like his father. I like to think that he just lives, but the fact that that's an interpretation is great. There's also an emphasis on eyes as/and cameras throughout, whether it's the eyes of the horses, the many camera lenses, the "eye"/mouth of the creature, or the film reel cases used on the set of Gordy's Home (along with Gordy himself) matching up with the alien dolls/costumes in Jupe's attraction .
The focus on eyes/cameras lends to the most obvious/accepted theme of the movie, being exploitation in the film industry. It's most obviously seen in the animals of the film, whether it be the horses fed to the monster or Gordy the monkey who attacks the cast when startled and is killed because of it. However, it also ties into the exploitation of film crew and people of color throughout the history of Hollywood, even in the use of the black rider as the first motion picture who we will do not know the name of in reality. It talks on the idea of "the show must go on," not learning from tragedy and the evils of the industry and instead monetizing it. This especially comes through in Jupe's character, who experienced this tragedy firsthand but still tries to capitalize off it in order to make peace, whereas Jupe and Em display the real lesson that this cannot be allowed to continue even if it is something that can be profited off of. In the end, they find the middle ground, destroying the threat while being able to sustain themselves financially. The idea of media profiting off tragedy is also shown in the "reflections." Just as the horse seeing itself makes it violent, the reporter with the reflective helmet shows that that type of journalism only serves to incite more fear and violence in order to make a profit. It shows a complete lack of personality or actual creative ambition, just amplifying the bad things around them. On the whole, the creature used as this never-ending maw of consumption representing the current media industry is great.
After seeing it, my girlfriend and I came out with different takes: she saw the movie as more of a "you can't control nature" narrative, obviously from the Gordy's Home subplot and Jupe's failure with the creature and how O.J.'s understanding of the creature led to their victory; to me, this was a movie more generally about horrific occurrences in modern-day life that are either ignored, told to live with, or used to fundraise instead of actually solving the issue. These are both valid themes others have seen while also tying into the prevalent media messaging, along with the concept that people don't understand tragedy until it happens directly to them (Jupe). Finally though, I've also seen some great takes on the creature as representing religion and religious trauma. This is something I definitely picked up on, as the true form of the creature looks like some indiscernible angel from Biblical art, implying that maybe these creatures have even been around that long and people just thought to worship them. This is where that confusing cloud comes back into play, as the idea of a static cloud in the sky being heaven/where God is is another common piece of imagery in religion. This also ties into other pieces of imagery seen in Gordy's Home, whether that be the upright shoe (the concept of a "bad miracle") or the imagery of Gordy's fistbump reaching down to Jupe in a kind of Creation of Adam way. This all does easily tie into the concept of this big, nebulous evil that is worship and profited off that just blindly eats things up with no remorse.
There's probably something I'm forgetting to mention in terms of hyper-specific imagery or things that back up these various themes, but at this point I think you should just go, see the movie yourself, and see what you take away from it. After being a little disappointed by Us, I was so happy that I really liked this movie, and I highly recommend it.