Jordan Peele’s latest film marks a successful transition to high-concept science fiction storytelling. It brings together a stellar cast to deliver big budget thrills while retaining the precision and moral core of his earlier work.
Nope begins with blood, fear, and loathing. It also covers family, legacy, and the idea of pure spectacle. It’s a film that manages to cram a lot of themes and motifs into a two hour runtime while still giving lingering shots of a Californian dustbowl. It lingers in frontier towns while itself feeling like it’s pushing something new: as scary as it is enchanting. Put simply, Nope is an excellent science fiction horror which will stay with you long after you look down again to find the cinema exit.
We follow Otis “OJ” Haywood Jr. (Daniel Kaluuya) and Emerald “Em” Haywood (Keke Palmer) as they inherit their family’s farm following the auspicious death of their father. A nickel falls from space and lodges itself in his eye, an early sign that what fascinates us in this Californian sky may be as dangerous as it is bewitching.
It’s on this ranch that their father ran the family business of Haywood Hollywood Horses, providing horses for films and commercials. The Haywoods are descendants of Alistair E. Haywood, the first black actor shown on film. He’s the subject of Eadweard Muybridge’s 1878 short, shown riding a horse.
This image drives the narrative of Nope with artefacts of that two second loop appearing as frequent reminders of the importance of legacy – especially one often denied and underplayed. The Haywoods’ business deals directly with spectacle, letting other directors and actors have their moment in the spotlight. This interplay is revisited throughout the film and adds to the commentary on the power in our attention and that which draws us in.
The film starts with a bloody chimp on a wrecked set of the fictionalised sitcom “Gordy’s home” with dead cast members littered around. It’s our first example of spectacle going too far as entertainment turns to horror in a moment. We later find Ricky ‘Jupe’ Park (Stephen Yeun), now the runner of Western attraction Jupiter’s Claim, was the child hiding under the sofa. Yeun and his younger counterpart Jacob Kim are excellent here but feel rather lost in the wider picture.
Dusty California makes a good setting for the supernatural. Jupiter’s Claim is as tacky as you’d want it to be and the Haywood’s ranch is expansive and deserted enough that looking to the sky for something more feels natural.
While Yeun feels rather lost, Kaluuya and Palmer are allowed to shine. The screenplay has humour and heart which they pull off with good chemistry. The lighter parts feel earned and the contrast make the horror all the more horrifying.
Nope follows in the line of classics such as Jaws and Close Encounters of The Third Kind while also finding company among contemporaries such as Arrival and Ex Machina. This is a film about spectacle, what makes us look up and wonder. It manages to sustain this mystery and sense of wonder throughout while sticking true to Peele’s horror roots. They pull it off and it’s an impressive feat.
Nope is a film full of big ideas and bold imagery packaged alongside a clear message that if you can only look at spectacle for so long before you become part of it. It borrows from the classics while feeling like something brand new. Watch it on the biggest screen you can find and keep looking up.
Nope was released in UK cinemas on August 12th.