Nope (2022)

Title:  Nope

Year: 2022

Genre: Horror | Mystery  | Sci-Fi |

Runtime: 130 min

Director: Jordan Peele

Starring:  Daniel Kaluuya, Keke Palmer, Steven Yeun

7.0/10

The residents of a lonely gulch in inland California bear witness to an uncanny and chilling discovery.

A SPECTACLE WITH NO EDGE

Jordan Peele’s version of an alien invasion that takes place in rural Los Angeles, California tries much to live off a hype that didn’t exist in the beginning. Early on in the film, it’s established that the siblings Haywood works with films and horses. After O. J. Haywood pop gets shoot to death, something starts to finally happen. But the excitement behind it is lost. With the number of thrilling scenes that are shown in the trailers loses easily and doesn’t bring that horror you expect.

As much as I like the essence of horror and the strangeness of Get Out, is lost in this feature. Gone is the tension of the unknown, gone is the essence of the characters. Us was another example of Peele’s master storytelling. In that one, Peele played the doppelgänger card in that film. The theme that collected those other films is lost in this film. All three films are played by a wonderful cast. In this film, Peele seems to struggle to envision that in this film. While it tries to get to the build-up, there’s only a key scene that supplies the expectations.

Sadly, that’s not enough to rate this film highly. Visually, it’s a stunning beauty and a wonderful shot as a film but the horror doesn’t exist. The spaceship or whatever they’ve created among the clouds that don’t moves are not esthetic enough to make it a suitable entity for the film that Peele tries to provide. It’s not scary nor believable that this ship with a hole that sucks people up and eats them out and throws up blood on the Haywood House.

Why the spaceship shows up is not that explored. The film spends a lot of time with a random tech guy that comes and goes to the farm. This guy becomes for some reason a friend to the siblings. Daniel and Keke do the job done but even if it looks good doesn’t mean that it’s great. Kaluuya’s O.J doesn’t bring any nuanced or closeness to the character, Palmer is more of a noisy, distressed sister than Emerald. Steven Yeun does a solid job but nothing impressive.

Overall, the suspense is there but you don’t feel like it. There’s tension enough to drag you into this world. No attention is given to world-building. No effort is given to regard this as Peele’s best work. He’s capable of much as a director but this was not his suit.