NOPE

US, 2022, 131 minutes, Colour.

Daniel Kaluuya, Keke Palmer, Perea, Michael Wincott, Steve Yuen, Keith David, Donna Mills.

Directed by Jordan Peele.

Actor-writer-director, Jordan Peele, made an impact with his comedy, especially with his friend Keegan Michael Keys. Then he wrote and directed the thriller, Get Out – and found a new set of fans. He followed up with Us. In looking at Nope, we might see that he is keen to direct a Western and keen to direct his own Close Encounters kind of science-fiction. Which, he seems to combine in Nope.

Nope is an anagram for Open. The meaning of this film takes quite a while to open up and open out. For this reviewer, it took too long, making it difficult to engage with characters and themes. British actor, Daniel Kaluuya, had a significant role in Get Out. But, here, he is the laconic cowboy, he and his father (Keith David) raising courses to be used in the movies. It is very hard to get a fix on him as a character, monosyllabic a lot of the time, meant to be something of a hero.

Then there is his sister, Emerald, played by comedian and music video artist, Keke Palmer. She gets on her brother’s nerves a lot of the time and, with her raucous outbursts, insensitive rushing into situations, she is rather hard to take, which means that some of us are not quite on side as the problems arise, the transition from the western background to the appearance of the alien craft. Brendan Perea is an electrician and Michael Wincott plays what is a really odd photographer, invited to come and photograph the alien craft, filming without electricity his own self-made cameras (in the tradition of Edward Muybridge whose rider and horse pioneering film is referenced many times).

The film opens with a disaster on a television sitcom set in 1998 and later returns to that situation after we, perhaps, have forgotten all about it. Probably some footnotes in the programming would help us to understand how this all fits into the overall Nope story. There is also the producer of the television show, Steve Yuen, who now runs an entertainment adjacent to the horse farm. And they touch of the spoiler in noting that he and his audience certainly have a close encounter of a bizarre kind.

Perhaps there is too much explanation of characters and situations – or, perhaps, not enough. But, with some explanations of what might be going on, especially the alien craft (looking flimsy at first with fabric rather than metal, then blossoming into all kinds of fabric) and its mission, horses maybe for some intergalactic reason, there is, finally, some tension building up with the four central characters confronting, evading, challenging, photographing, the unseen aliens driving the spaceship.

This review would have liked to have said Yep instead of Nope – but, in terms of stating the obvious, the number of reviewers and bloggers who have posted Nope for their review, might have shown some more creativity in expressing their negatives! But, nope, they didn’t.

1. The title and expectations? Comic tone? Characters using it throughout the film?
2. Contemporary Hollywood, echoes of the past, the television show in 1998, filmmaking in the 21^st-century, the use of horses, green screen, at the studios? The breeding of horses for filmmaking? The contrast with the alien craft, the activity of the aliens, taking up the humans, photographing the craft, the final confrontation?
3. The work of Jordan Peele, writing and directing, from comedy, to thriller, to horror?
4. The western background, the range, outside Los Angeles, the mountains? The horses, training, the range, riding, escaping…? OJ, growing up with his father, talent for horses, the films, riding with his father, his father being killed with sky debris? OJ going to the studio, his sister late in turning up, her arriving, taking over with her explanations, the reaction of the horse, being sacked? Back at the ranch, OJ, laconic, working with the horses? Emerald, not laconic, wild outbursts?
5. Jupe Park, the past with television, memories of the Gordi show, the initial presentation, the monkey, the dead woman, the little boy, the family show? 20 years later, Jupe and his working on his western show, his wife, the children, the audience, his wanting to show them the alien craft? With the horse in the cage? The arrival of the craft, overwhelming the audience, taking them all up? The horse remaining?
6. The introduction of the alien theme, OJ and his looking at the lights in the fields, the signs from the electricity and failures? His decision to improve security, going to the shop, the encounter with Angel, Angel coming out to work on the house, setting up the lights, the security, the surveillance?
7. The continued activity of the craft, initially seeming metal, then fabric? The later blossoming out of all the fabric and different shapes? The craft, its flight, cosmetic aspects, the weather, the clouds? The mission? Courses? To what purpose?
8. The succession of concerns, the effect on OJ, on Emerald? The decision to invite the photographer? His eccentric personality, on the phone, arrival, his cloak, his own cameras, wanting to get unique footage? The difficulties with the electricity, on and off, the presence and absence of the craft? The rider on the electric motor bike, wanting to film, his crash? Emerald going to rescue him?
9. The photographer, setting up his position, Angel assisting him? Photographing everything? Emerald and her escaping back into the house? OJ, on the horse, riding to confront the craft?
10. The other people, the camera, the photographer taking his camera and hiking up the hill?
11. The change in the craft, blossoming out with fabric, the confrontation with Angel and his surviving? Going to the scenes of the western shows, the horses, confrontation with Emerald? Emerald and her ingenuity, the previous experience with the wishing well, taking the photos, lining it up, setting free the huge cartoon character, it is rising, taken into the craft, the explosion? Out in the fields, defiance by OJ?
12. The final image, OJ on his horse, the Western hero?