REVIEW: Nope

Victoria Heath

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With critically-acclaimed films like Get Out and Us, Jordan Peele’s latest sci-fi horror Nope was eagerly anticipated by cinemagoers ahead of its UK release earlier this week. Expectations have been held high alongside hopes of this film matching the level of Peele’s previous pictures. But is it worth the hype? Although there are many positive aspects to the film, I suppose the short answer for me is “Nope!”

The Opening Scene

The film opens with a perplexing Peele-esque style scene, full of dramatic expectation and a sense of tension being built.

A beautifully brooding quote “I will cast abominable filth upon you, make you vile, and make you a spectacle” appears across an otherwise black screen. Admittedly, this works well to give the right hint of horror without being overstated. Connections are immediately made to the following scene of a bloodied chimp, Gordy, in an empty studio, where I thought we would stay for a while.

Instead, Peele tantalises us and moves away into us meeting some of the central characters.

‘The Gaze’ and ‘The Scopial View’

Swiftly, we move into our first encounter with the destructive power of the otherworldly apparition that Nope centres around. We are forced to witness Otis’ (Daniel Kaluuya) father, Otis Sr (Keith David), being brutally killed in an ominous and inexplicable attack.

“it is the very inability to pinpoint this entity that begins to provide the first hints of strangeness in the film”

Straight away, I noticed the film’s homage to the theme of ‘the gaze’ (what we choose to look at, and what chooses to look back at us). In horror, the scopial view is something that is constantly exploited to achieve that bone-chilling, horrific conundrum – ‘the killer is behind you!’ – or the threat of the menacing entity lurking somewhere. In the case of Nope, it is the very inability to pinpoint this entity that begins to provide the first hints of strangeness in the film. 

Characterisation

The rest of Nope follows the sibling ranch owners, Otis and Emerald (Keke Palmer). They are helped by a blasé hardware store employee, Angel (Brandon Perea) and a cryptic cinematographer (Michael Wincott), to traverse around a barren landscape in order to capture the supernatural spectre on camera.

I initially enjoyed Daniel Kaluuya’s more introspective, withdrawn portrayal of Otis. His performance in Get Out is absolutely magnificent and is certainly one of the key reasons why the film is one of my favourites. But by the end of Nope, I longed to find out more about him, and I felt that this withdrawn exterior made it difficult to entirely understand the expanse of his character.

Keke Palmer’s character, Emerald, was energetic, steadfast, and a great contrast to Otis, however, I still felt that the motivations of the characters were slightly swept aside. One thing was made clear – the pair’s desire to capture the apparition on camera – but their motivations for this didn’t feel all too compelling in order to sustain an over two-hour long film.

Building False Expectations

“felt consumed by building up expectations that were never met”

Much of the second and third acts felt consumed by building up expectations that were never met. We seemed to be focused on the rather repetitious chase of an apparition in the clouds above, as opposed to some of the arguably more interesting things down below. For example, the aftermath of Gordy’s violent attack on his cast would perhaps have been worth delving into more thoroughly.

At the same time as Otis and Emerald’s surveillance quest, the adjacent theme park owner, Ricky (Steven Yeun), attempts to profit from the apparition to his own eventual demise. There’s a great backstory to Ricky’s life as a former child star, subtly inflected throughout, which links back to Gordy at the beginning. Unfortunately, this aspect of the film acted as a subplot, but I felt that it was so rich in content that it could have been the star of the show.

Too Much Content

“there is almost, in my opinion two films’ worth of content in Nope”

There is almost, in my opinion, two films’ worth of content in Nope. Firstly, there is the subtly-inflected critique of capitalism and our obsession (and the subsequent consequence) of converting everything into profit (both humans and animals) that is evoked by Ricky and the story of Gordy. Then, there is the more scopial, traditionally sci-fi-cum-horror that Otis and Emerald are deeply intertwined within.

Crucially, I think that Nope attempts to fit a significant amount of content into a singular film. This means that the different threads of the film can feel unfinished as we flick between the story of Ricky and Gordy, and then back to Otis and Emerald on their mission to capture this apparition.

Ricky’s backstory was richly developed and hinted at several times throughout the first and second acts. This strand often seemed disconnected from Otis and Emerald, as the three characters rarely interacted throughout the film.

“it felt like a portrayal of two separate stories”

Personally, it felt like a portrayal of two separate stories. Characters were shoehorned together, and I wasn’t entirely convinced that they complimented each other. 

Perhaps these two stories could have been further linked with some more convergence of characters, but I felt that they appeared distinctly separated throughout the film. I’m a huge fan of Peele’s use of symbolism in his work, but here I felt that there was almost too much of a good thing, that detracted from the potential of either category of symbolism and themes.

Use of Settings and Flashbacks

I want to make a special point to highlight the use of the setting, which was brilliantly crafted.

I highly commend Peele for his writer-director-producer role in the film, and really appreciate his cryptic, nuanced flair in the cinematography too. Scenes such as the sky dancers along the vast, barren landscape, or the desolate, moody theme park are absolutely brilliant. They set up opportunities for wonderfully strange scenes to unfold, and I definitely appreciated how evocative each of the set locations were.

My favourite part of Nope was the extended flashback scene to the horrific aftermath of filming a TV episode entitled “Gordy’s Birthday”, a chilling scene as the chimp brutally and savagely attacks the cast.  I loved the backstory of the ranch owner and the chimp, and wonder if the film could have instead followed his perverted attempt to cash in on the spectacle, or more about the implications upon the “Gordy’s Birthday” episode on the surviving members.

A predominant theme, which I personally found connected the two ‘strands’ of the story as mentioned earlier, was the critique of animals as a commodity and source of income. However, I didn’t feel that this theme was explicit enough to converge the two ‘stories’, which is a sentiment which I continued to notice throughout Nope.

Peele will continue to be one of my favourite horror screenwriters, and I eagerly await his next film for more slow-burning, anticipatory horror with a cutting slice of societal critique. His films are characterised by their brooding, slow-burning moods – a key factor that I believe makes me keep going back to them. They are tantalising, fitting subtle clues into the plot that get better with each re-watch. The films are rich with symbolism, that feels unique and refreshing. It’s these exact things which I think are key to the success of his films, and Nope does certainly fulfil many of these criteria. However, I think the film’s plot could have benefited from being more focused and cohesive, consequently allowing more room for its characters (and their subsequent motivations) to be fleshed out entirely. 

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Featured image courtesy of canburak via Flickr. Image license found here. No changes were made to this image.