A follow-up to Get Out and Us, Jordan Peele’s Nope stars Daniel Kaluuya as the understated, intense horse trainer/ wrangler Otis “OJ” Haywood Jr., whose ranch – which provides horses for film and TV – attracts the attention of a UFO. Or rather UAP, as Kaluuya’s OJ is corrected. With it ominously hovering over the ranch, OJ brings in sister Emerald (Keke Palmer), Angel Thomas (Brandon Perea) and Antlers Holst (Michael Wincott) to shoot the impossible “Oprah shot” and capture their haunting UFO on camera. In parts a Lovecraftian Jaws and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, with references to the classic Katsuhiro Otomo Akira (which Jordan Peele was in the running to remake) and desert-classic Tremors. Jordan Peele’s Nope takes the idea of a monster you can’t look at – à la Medusa or Susanne Bier’s Bird Box – and the ever present threat of a territorial predator in Jaws, likewise made all the more ominous and terrifying when kept unseen, and continues to prove himself a master of racial-political commentary and suspense, while presenting his own views on filmmaking and the history of black cinema in Hollywood.
OJ: What’s a bad miracle? They got a word for that?
Emerald: Nope.
Nope is a film best seen with no expectations and spoilers firmly avoided, as its greatest value lies in its overarching “WTF?!” isms and reactions you’ll be subjected to, alongside the Haywood siblings. For the most part, the out-of-this-world “It” in the sky that terrorises the Haywood ranch remains out of sight, but always present. It plays on conspiracy theories, fear and curiosity of the unknown, set to the backdrop of the isolating expanse that is the Californian desert. An outback that, evidently, plays host to some… extraordinary predators. At least New York gets a break from the usual giant monsters and destructive alien invaders this time round. Toying with your conscious understanding that Peele’s otherworldly predator remains hidden but ready to pounce, Nope is slow paced, focusing on its smaller cast, including OJ’s sister Emerald (Keke Palmer), who proudly promotes their family ranch by boldly highlighting their proud history as descendants of the unnamed jockey from the 19th-century Eadweard Muybridge The Horse in Motion picture.
Get Out and Us prominently explored race and representation in cinema – the latter featuring a predominantly black cast – and Nope continues this with allegories and diverse casting. Through the Haywood ranch, it becomes clear Jordan Peele is fighting to address black legacy in Hollywood, where The Horse in Motion marks the birth of modern film, yet its innovation has essentially eclipsed the first movie star into obscurity.
Emerald: What did it look like?
OJ: I don’t know. It was fast. Too fast. Too quiet to be a plane.
Emerald: OJ. Are you saying what I think you’re saying?
Joining Kaluuya and Palmer and their story back at the ranch, Steven Yeun stars as the charismatic Ricky “Jupe” Park – a child star from a fictional ’90s family sitcom, Gordy’s Home, where he starred with Gordy the chimp as a token Asian character in a white family. An on-set accident involving a burst balloon, however, acts as a trigger for the nameless chimp playing Gordy, resulting in a violent anarchic incident that has clearly left scars on Yeun’s Ricky Park, while also being a catalyst to banning the use of chimps on-set. The flashbacks to this past are also among Nope‘s most disturbing and heart-racing intense (not to mention gory) scenes, though only topped by one other.
Easily the most overtly and decisively “horror” scene in Jordan Peele’s Nope is one that preys perfectly on a number of phobias – including claustrophobia and the Lovecraftian unknown – filmed in such a way that is jarring, effectively disturbing on a base level, and haunting to a degree that makes it singularly stand out from the rest of the film, otherwise lacking in directly horror sequences. Jordan Peele utilises excellent sound design throughout the film, especially when the UAF is concerned, but this scene in particular creates a hellish torrent of screams so visceral and disturbing that, even though not much is shown explicitly, enough is left up to the imagination that it is innately disturbing. It’s a reminder that Jordan Peele is one of the most exciting current horror directors, making use of the otherwise slower pacing of the film to create a juxtaposing, shockingly jarring moment of intense horror. It’s a shame, then, that while there are scenes of brilliance like this, the climax falls flat.
“There’s lots of theories. Either they’re intergalactic travellers looking for peace. Or futuristic humans coming back in time to stop us from destroying the planet. Or they’re fucking world killers. Planetary destroyers. And that means that they’ve been fucking watching us, and studying us, waiting for the perfect time to beam us up, and shove metal probes up our fucking asses”
Set to beautiful Californian desert vista sweeps that show off Peele’s directorial eye, Nope warns about startling chimps or provoking amorphous, disc-like alien sky predators by making direct eye contact, and with his tendency to present racial discussion throughout his films, we are left wondering if OJ’s alien antagonist is a metaphor itself. As a film that presents ideas of filmmaking itself, there is a sense of the horror of being seen, or conversely unnoticed, in a culture that thrives off the urge to see and be seen where cameras litter the screen, making it impossible for a character like OJ, ostensibly camera shy, to remain hidden. Even the alien visitor is described as a “viewer” consuming everything it can see – or rather, anything that sees it. But despite leaving us with pondering thoughts on the deeper metaphoric meaning of Nope, a brilliant return for Peele to bizarro Twilight Zone sci-fi, and moments of captivating cinematic awe that feel as though they are heading towards something extraordinary, the ambition of the concept dissipates somewhat during the climax – another Jaws-esque moment that recalls the great chase sequence, yet doesn’t quite live up to the daunting horror of its best moments, nor to the films intense atmosphere.
You don’t turn your back on a bear. You don’t wear red around a bull. It’s like that. You don’t look at it unless you want its attention
Jordan Peele is still three for three with Nope, despite shortcomings during its finale. The mild mannered OJ and his louder more eccentric sister will stay with you after the film, and thanks to the experience of being “beamed up” part way through the film, Peele manages to instil a sense of suspicion when you step outside and question whether the cloud above has moved from its position in the past hour and make you sensibly exclaim “Nope… uh-uh,” before looking down and walking away.
