Nope (2022) - Movie Review

Nope is a sci-fi horror movie written and directed by Jordan Peele Starring Steven Yeun, Daniel Kaluuya, Keke Palmer and Terry Notary.

A hybrid of genres: sci-fi, horror, drama, and dark comedy. Quite a feat.

Synopsis

OJ and Emerald have inherited a horse ranch from their late father, who died when a metal object fallen from the skies hits him on the head. The two siblings, and their friend Brandon have been witnessing strange phenomena in the sky, one of them being a cloud that never moves nor changes in shape. Soon after, as people disappear en masse and yet another metal shower falls on the ranch, the siblings and their friend will have to mobilize to defend their territory.

Review

This is a really good movie, in spite of taking the risk of being forgotten in the long run, and be considered, by the wider audience, as just another movie. Peele is a master directing scenes and sequencing, and in particular writing startling screenplays. On this occasion he does not want to approach the horror in an overt way, and prefers to display a directorial piece that is profoundly psychological with balanced cadences, which is not an easy endeavor.

If it qualifies as a horror movie or not, we will answer posing the question, “Was Close Encounters of the Third Kind a horror movie?” Let us just say that Nope is an approach to the classic cinema, what we would now consider classic cinema in the New Hollywood classic cinema category.

It is the story of characters that knows how to narrate a tragedy, and allows it to evolve in a context of supernatural tale. This film relies more on good camerawork, than on special effects, and even more on the performances than on grand sound effects and scores,

It is a distinctive Peele piece. A story that evolves at its own timely pace, that grows and surprises, much like his previous works.

Our opinion

Peele has definitely mastered the art of creating suspense, never devoid of humor and irony. Cinematographically, it is phenomenal, while the special effects are somewhat more subdued than one would have expected. It was too long in duration, but it was entertaining enough to keep us engaged. Daniel Kaluuya is a definite asset being great in his role as the stoic ranch owner.

Now, the question that haunts us is if it really qualifies as a horror movie. We will leave that up to each to decide.

Other reviews

There’s obviously a lot of ideas going on, references, all that jazz, but it’s a frustrating experience, a film of diminishing interest as it plods along.
CJ Johnson: Film Mafia

… The most exciting piece of film-making you’ve seen all year: stealthy, ambiguous and constantly teetering on the edge of the iconic.
Tom Shone: Times (UK)

The Director

Jordan Peele

Jordan Peele is an American filmmaker, writer and actor known for the movies Get Out (2017), Us (2019) and Nope (2022).

Jordan Haworth Peele was born on February 21, 1979 in New York, USA.

This brilliant filmmaker began his career as an actor in Comedy Central and he made his first film in 2016, Keanu. The following year, he rose to fame thanks to his movie, Get Out for which he won the Academy Award for Best Screenplay.