Nope (2022)

Directed by Jordan Peele [Other horror films: Get Out (2017), Us (2019)]

Perhaps among one of the more hyped films I’ve seen from the genre in the last couple of years, Nope was a pretty mysterious movie from the beginning. I never got much in the way of plot from the trailer, and I’m guessing most people walked into this one knowing only that Jordan Peele was at the helm, and that was enough.

I enjoyed Get Out well enough, and I’ve not yet seen Us, but I can say that Nope wasn’t really my thing. No doubt it’s a unique movie in many aspects – while the narrative structure isn’t abnormal, the characters and plot certainly are – and more so, the movie looked stellar on a cinematography level. Plenty of people seemed to enjoy it well enough, and I certainly don’t doubt their sincerity, as there’s potentially a lot to enjoy, especially toward the finale.

Among my many issues, though, are the characters, few of whom I understood. Daniel Kaluuya’s character recently lost his father, so the fact he’s so non-expressive can be excused, but I didn’t get Keke Palmer’s personality at all. Perhaps it’s just too loud for me (and apparently she’s a musician, which I didn’t know until writing this review), but I found her character very difficult to understand. Related, Michael Wincott’s (Alien Resurrection) character seemed so odd to me, as did Steven Yeun’s (Mayhem). At the very least, Brandon Perea sort of felt like a person, so that’s something.

It’s not just the characters, though – I didn’t get why they threw in the random subplot with the chimpanzee that went ape-shit (pun moderately intended). Perhaps they felt it thematically-appropriate, but it just felt random and unnecessary to me, especially as it didn’t really add much to Yeun’s character.

The finale did have a decent amount going for it, and again, the plot here – dealing with an unidentified flying object in the California skies – went in an interesting direction, but I also have to be forthcoming and say that, given the movie was two hours and ten minutes long, I can’t imagine wanting to sit through this one again, especially as I didn’t relate to any of the characters.

Nope just felt odd to me. Certainly some people enjoyed it, and I think the marketing was pretty impressive, but on the whole, I can’t say I really liked this. I didn’t hate it or anything, but it’s not my idea of enjoyment. Oh, and I also have to point out that I don’t care for the title – I don’t know if it was trying to be funny, but as a title, Nope doesn’t do it for me. Still, the movie worked for some people, and perhaps, if I see this in the future, I’ll enjoy it a tad more.

6/10