A One Mann’s Movies review of “Nope” (2022).
As I’ve probably revealed before, Spielberg’s “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” (the original cut) is my personal favourite film of all time. Perfectly blending drama, mystery and special effects to create a compelling and breathtaking story. I was also impressed by Jordan Peele’s “Get Out“. So could the director take a UFO story and spin it into a modern-day classic….? Nope!
Bob the Movie Man Rating(s):
Plot Summary:
Laid back OJ Heywood (Daniel Kaluuya) and his ebulliant sister Emerald (Keke Palmer) run a movie horse wrangling business in California with their father (Keith David). When dad is mysterious killed by ‘plane debris’, OJ has to try to take the lead on the business himself. But when mysterious sounds and movements from the clouds point to potential UFO activity, the pair see their opportunity to make their fortune by capturing “the impossible shot”.
Certification:
Talent:
Starring: Daniel Kaluuya, Keke Palmer, Brandon Perea, Michael Wincott, Steven Yeun.
Directed by: Jordan Peele.
Written by: Jordan Peele.
Twitter Handles: #NopeMovie.
“Nope” Review:
Positives:
- Ed Potton (who gave “Nope” 4-stars in his review in The Times!) described the movie as having influences of Stephen Spielberg, M. Night Shyamalan and Quentin Tarantino together with “an off-kilter atmosphere that is all Peele’s own”. And I can see some of that. There are nuggets of cinematic brilliance in here, with more than one nod to some of Spielberg’s classics:
- the flagging of an alien presence through the loss of power, as in CEot3K;
- further evidence of lurking danger through a streamer of bunting, aping the yellow barrels in “Jaws”;
- an almost carbon-copy version of Quint from “Jaws” in the form of the Heywood’s hired cinematographer, Antlers Holst (Michael Wincott).
- We normally talk here about “monkeys” in the end-titles of films. But here, the monkey is before the opening titles! And that monkey features in the best and most memorable scene in the whole film for me. The rampant animal prowling round in a blood soaked and almost deserted TV studio with “Applause” signs flashing away. It’s bizarre, terrifying and superbly filmed: a scene that had me more engaged than all of Shyamalan’s more recent offerings (let’s not remind ourselves of “Old“!).
- Oscar-winner Kaluuya again delivers the goods, but it is Keke Palmer that impresses even more with her energy and vitality (with one caveat… that I really struggled to understand whole sections of her dialogue. Either she needs to ennunciate more, or I need to have my ears syringed).
- Technically, the movie has some strong angles. I loved the cinematography by Hoyte Van Hoytema (“Tenet“, “Interstellar“, “Dunkirk“). And the sound team did a great job as well, reminiscent to me of the Oscar winning sound for “Arrival“.
Negatives:
- Peele loves to wrong foot you and keep you guessing about how some diverse elements of the story come together. It’s particularly disappointing then when they don’t (or at least don’t for any practical purposes related to the main story)! There’s a guy on an electric motorbike at one point: no idea who he was!!
- There were bits of this movie where I was just plain bored. Which is a terrible thing to say, but true.
- I really didn’t care about any of the characters other than the two leads. This was particularly true of the store guy Angel Torres (Brandon Perea): if he was on Star Trek, he would have been wearing a red shirt). And I found the cinematographer, Antlers Holst, exceptionally annoying. He kept coming out with random lines of philosophical nonsense, and Michael Wincott plays it well over the top. I guess – harking back to the “Jaws” comparison – Robert Shaw’s Quint was very similar… but was far more believable a character.
- No spoilers, but the effects in the finale reminded me of one of my grandson’s art efforts from his nursery school.
Summary Thoughts on “Nope”:
I fear I might be seriously in the minority on this one, as “Nope” has an imdb score of 7.4/10 at the time of writing. But Peele’s latest effort (indeed, like his last effort “Us“) just didn’t work for me. It has high ambition but came across as a rag-bag of elegant bits of content that just didn’t mesh into a satisfactory story.
Spielberg’s legacy with “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” is safe for a while longer. (If you want a different and better take on that type of film, watch “Midnight Special” if you’ve not seen that).
Would I recommend Peele’s latest? There’s only one response I can come up with to that question!
Trailer for “Nope”
The trailer is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=In8fuzj3gck .
