Jordan Peele, who found his early career success in comedy sketch shows like MadTV and Key and Peele, seems to have certainly heard his calling in filmmaking in the science fiction and horror genres. He kicked things off with his directorial debut in 2017 with Get Out, an intensely horrific thriller (and sci-fi-themed) film that snagged him an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. The filmmaker followed up with Us in 2019, a sci-fi doppelgänger movie that, while not receiving the accolades that Get Out received, was still praised for its beautiful style and memorable performances.
Trying to go three-for-three, Jordan Peele recently released Nope, another sci-fi horror film starring Daniel Kaluuya (Get Out), Keke Palmer (Hustlers), Brandon Perea (The OA), Steven Yeun (The Walking Dead), Michael Wincott (The Crow) and Keith David (The Thing, They Live).
NOPE takes place at a small gulch in California and is focused on OJ (Kaluuya) and Emerald (Palmer) Haywood, two siblings who take over their father’s Hollywood horse-training ranch after he dies in a freak accident. While the two are trying to keep the ranch financially afloat, they discover what they think is a UFO that has been abducting their horses and dropping inorganic materials from the sky.
In an effort to document real footage of a UFO, they team up with a local electronics store employee, Angel (Perea), and a critically acclaimed cinematographer (Wincott) to record and sell the footage. Meanwhile, Ricky Park (Yeun), a former child actor and carnival owner, has also been trying to financially capitalize on the extraterrestrial phenomenon.
Like all of Jordan Peele’s films, the acting in Nope is incredible, from the leads all the way down to the minor roles. Kaluuya and Palmer’s performances balance one another perfectly, with Kaluyya offering his usual reserved and stoic role against Palmer’s hyper-enthusiastic awareness.
Yeun’s role as Ricky “Jupe” Park was layered and captivating, and both his past and present stories led to some of the most intense moments in the film. Perea’s silliness contrasted well with Wincott’s deep, apathetic personality. Though his scenes were short-lived, Keith David provided what he always does: superb effort in even the smallest (though not unimportant) scenes. Even Oz Perkins (director of The Blackcoat’s Daughter and son of horror legend Anthony Perkins) has a small cameo. All the performances complimented each other amazingly well and allowed the audience to flow with the characters rather than ever be distracted by them.
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Coming from a comedy background and always having an incredible interest in sci-fi and horror, Peele has a gift for seamlessly transitioning between the two genres, even within the same scene. There were moments of Nope that had a goosebumps-inducing creep factor but wound up making the audience drop their shoulders in relief a bit after a joke or false flag was revealed. This didn’t take anything away from the movie but rather kept the audience in a semi-state of comfort, really hitting home once the terrifying moments truly began.
There were many moments when my eyes were wide, and my heart beat faster in anticipation of what could happen next. Not many recently released horror films have that power over me anymore, and it was a very welcomed feeling.
One of the film’s biggest home runs was its originality. In all three of Peele’s directed films, he’s done the writing. While he’s taken inspiration from horror and sci-fi heavy hitters like The Twilight Zone, Alfred Hitchcock, and even Jaws in his films, he’s still able to create something completely original and fresh. Jordan Peele’s Nope took an idea you’d see straight out of 1940s alien invasion films and gave me a thrilling sci-fi story I’d never seen before.
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When bringing up Peele’s writing, you have to bring up his social commentary. And while it wasn’t nearly as heavy-handed as Get Out or Us was, there were still blatant messages of Hollywood’s sheer forgetfulness of Black contributions to film history and the dangers of society’s constant infatuation with getting the perfect instant video shot or picture, consequences, and repercussions be damned. Peele’s socio-political writing and commentary often outshine his abilities as a director, and the film gave him the environment and lighting to show off his chops.
He’s a genius at doing more with less, and his camera work and direction style don’t just show that he’s watched movies made by greats like Spielberg or Kubrick but also truly studied their craft. Peele reunited with composer Michael Abels, who did the outstanding scores for both Get Out and US to perfectly accommodate both the lighter-hearted and more intense scenes.
Sometimes, it can be hard to review films like this just because so much of their success comes from scenes you want the audience to see, not be told about. So, while I can’t go into specifics about where the story goes, I can say that it belongs in the best horror films of recent years and possibly the best release of Peele’s career (I enjoyed Get Out more, but US less). It’s certainly the most impressive visually.
I totally recommend giving this one a watch. Although Peele himself might disagree, I think he’s on the path to becoming one of the all-time great horror directors, and I can’t wait to see what he comes up with next.
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