Review of Nope (2022) by Markhreviews — 20 Aug 2022

Jordan Peele is clearly a gifted filmmaker. It’s also possible that he’s too smart for his own good. His latest offering, “Nope,” decisively answers the rhetorical question: “Are all of Jordan Peele’s films interesting and accessible?”.

A taciturn OJ Haywood (Daniel Kaluuya) works for his dad at Haywood’s Hollywood Horses, which wrangles horses for the entertainment industry. After his father is mysteriously killed by falling metal debris, OJ becomes responsible for keeping the business and the family ranch afloat. His sister, Emerald (Keke Palmer), helps out, sorta. But there’s something very wrong here. A cloud has been sitting on the horizon for days. Could it be hiding a space alien from view? Yup. But good news: by capturing film footage of the alien, maybe the Haywards can make a lot of money and save the farm.

In writing this screenplay, Writer/Producer/Director Peele creates more story lines than he knows what to do with. The film opens with a quote from the Old Testament prophet Nahum: “I will cast abominable filth upon you, make you vile, and make you a spectacle.” So perhaps this film is an allegory about the oversized role of spectacle in modern culture? Sorta. Peele tells us a couple of times that OJ and Emerald are the descendants of the black jockey who appeared in 1878’s “The Horse in Motion,” arguably the progenitor of the modern motion picture. And there’s a poster for “Buck and the Preacher,” Sidney Poitier’s directorial debut, that appears in more than one scene. Maybe this film is about the marginalization of black contributions to film-making? Kinda. There’s a storyline about Jupe (Steven Yeun), who’s scratching to make a living managing a misbegotten cowboy theme park. As a child, Jupe starred in “Gordy’s Home,” an infamously short-lived sitcom where a chimpanzee ran amuck and attacked almost everyone on the set. Huh?

Peele fully develops exactly none of these ideas or any of the other thematic elements floating around. As a result, “Nope” comes across as a series of poorly developed impressions culminating in an unsatisfyingly ambiguous climax.

There are many elements of this film worthy of praise. Kaluuya, Palmer, Yeun and gravel-voiced Michael Wincott, who plays a famous cinematographer with plans to get definitive footage of the alien, are all first-rate. Visually, the film is often spectacular because of the work of Cinematographer Hoyte Van Hoytema (“Tenet,” “Interstellar,” “Dunkirk”).

In my view, “Nope” is a smart, creative filmmaker just showing off. Here, he never chooses to fully pursue any of the themes he develops. But isn’t a key element of filmmaking the act of telling a coherent story or at least fully articulating a personal point of view? According to Jordan Peele, nope.