By: Kimberly Grant
If you’re over the age of 30, you’re anxious about something. It could be something small, like rain causing your roof to cave in or large, like losing your dream job. Either way, you have anxiety about something. And we all have ways to cope with the anxiety. One good way to cope with anxiety is to not watch films that exacerbate your anxiety. Unfortunately, Jordan Peele’s latest horror film Nope has now given me heightened anxiety about clouds.
Nope is available in theaters nationwide.
The Moving Pictures
In the film, it appears Jordan Peele is paying homage to the first moving picture, which was a short, black and white clip of a man riding a horse in 1878. In Nope, the rider is a fictional black Bahamian jockey named Allister E. Haywood. Allister’s great grandchildren are dealing with the sudden loss of their father Otis Haywood, Sr. (played by Keith David), while keeping their horse farm afloat. Otis “OJ” Haywood, Jr. (Daniel Kaluuya) and his sister Emerald (Keke Palmer) are at odds with what to do with their family farm whose claim to fame is that their trained horses are used in big budget Hollywood films.
The real conflict of the film is that there is an alien being that exists in the clouds and it’s hungry for their horses. Instead of OJ and Emerald hatching a plan to kill the life form, they’ve decided to get the lifeform on camera and use it as a way to draw tourists to their farm as a money-making venture. Only, the alien acts as an EMP for all electronics, so their cameras are always offline whenever its nearby.
An Homage to Visuals
I’ve been a fan of Peele since his days on Comedy Central’s Key & Peele. The show was mostly funny with some skits acting as head scratchers. Still, there are a lot of funny and memorable scenes from the show. That said, Peele has always been an off-the-beaten-path type of filmmaker and comedian. Nope is a visual representation of that.
Written, directed, and produced by Peele, Nope’s plot has holes. There’s an additional storyline about a literal show monkey named Gordy who engages in a violent incident. The only correlation between Gordy’s storyline and the film is that both have to do with show animals and how they are not always treated well. Still, Gordy’s storyline feels random.
Waste of A Story
As a matter of fact, the entire film seems random. At least in Get Out, there was a storyline and an interesting subtext. In Nope, there isn’t much by way of an explanation or even a real beginning, middle, and end. This film actually feels like a waste of time.
The direction is campy. There’s significant homage payment to the man on the horse and beloved western movies. There’s a black man riding a horse to save the day that’s center frame. You have a few scares. There’s even a horror scene that’s reminiscent of Carrie.
A Hit And A Miss
From a filmmaker’s standpoint, I could say that Nope would be typical art house fare. As a writer, I think the story needs much work. And, as a person who watches closely for consistency, the direction feels hit-and-miss. Emerald mentions women, but her being a lesbian feels like an unnecessary plot point. Her wardrobe is disastrous. And frankly, our beloved Palmer is kind of annoying as Emerald. There should be better roles for her than this.
Kaluuya, who always does a fabulous job as an actor, was probably cast in the film because he works well with Peele and he’s just that good. He’s actually the only good part of the entire film. If not for Kaluuya, Nope would be a total and utter waste of time, money, and energy.
Clearly, Peele can do better than this. This is not it. Actually, this one is a nope.
Interested in which summer action film is worth watching? You can see my review of Thor: Love & Thunder here.
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