Peele said he started writing it during the pandemic, when everyone thought movie theaters were dying off, to forgo the extinction of everything we hold sacred in Nicole Kidman's AMC veneration. But not only did he write his version of a big summer blockbuster to get people back to the theater: he admitted that he no clue how to actually adapt it. He deliberately approached something ambitious and intimidating with abandon: Fuck, do I respect that. And I respect him even more because he actually pulled it off while leveling up at the same time.
Everything about NOPE could have its own post as Peele and his team have crafted one of the finest blockbusters of any decade: from the top-tier performances to Hoyte van Hoyetma's handsome and innovative cinematography to Johnnie Burn's criminally underappreciated sound design to Michael Abels' eclectic score to the seamless visual effects — every single fucking aspect is in top form.
It features probably my favorite performance from Daniel Kaluuya (which is really saying something). He's such perfect casting with his expressive eyes and effortless knack for simmering emotion, constantly showing us new sides to O.J. Haywood, but in the smallest ways. In the context of horror movies he's so refreshingly intelligent, pragmatic, and patient - there's no contrived hard-headedness making him jump into action for the sake of tension or plot momentum. He takes time to assess each situation which makes the tension more organic and makes him exciting to root for when he goes into action; he gets into danger, sure, but not without some sharp decision-making first.
Miscategorized by the ignorant/Logan Paul as stoic, I see O.J. as someone who's incredibly shy, thoughtful, anxious, curious, and skeptical. He's reserved, sure, but the gears are always turning. Interestingly, he's more sociable with his horses and even interacts with other people with the same idiosyncrasies (how he clicks his tongue at Angel to point the camera up, for example). Well, except for his sister. He really comes to life around Emerald because she brings it out in him, which gives them history beyond anything they explicitly say. Around her he's animated because he's annoyed, playful, reassuring, or amused — because he's comfortable.
The same can be said for Steven Yeun as he's tasked with playing the most crucial character of the movie; his performance is about giving a performance. Ricky 'Jupe' Park is a tragic mural of undulations painted on the wall of a dam and, behind it, is his neverending storm. There's so much awe in Yeun showing us how Jupe has used his sustained winds to dry the layers of his mortar, particularly during his creepy SNL monologue; he's desperate to prove he's not bothered. So when he's finally, devastatingly faced with Jean Jacket's swirling gusts: every fucking brick comes loose as a brief smile cracks him open. The whole movie hinges on getting this just right and Yeun fucking delivers exactly what the script demanded.
And this is where I always struggle to write about Nope. There's so much to unpack but this isn't supposed to be some long analysis, just a "this is what I like about" whatever movie I plucked from my decade list in random order. But Nope is so dense with its parallels that's it's hard to not talk about a portion of its enormity.
Consider this my truncated 'Pepe Silvia' rant:
We don't ever actually see Jupe in Jean Jacket's throat along with everyone else from the Star Lasso Experience. We do see 'him' consumed when Jean Jacket is shoving a balloon caricature of his younger self into its mouth. As a child he was forever changed by a balloon: it popped because it was too close to the stage lights and that sent Gordy into a fearful and violent frenzy. Jean Jacket similarly dies because it felt threatened and, yet again, there's a tragic balloon pop. Otis Haywood Sr. dies because a nickel went through his eye (I'll come back to this 'one eye imagery') and Emerald uses a coin to operate a camera to take a picture of Jean Jacket attacking the Jupe Balloon. A nickel is also on the poster for Jupe's starring role as a child: Kid Sheriff, the character made into a balloon. Young Jupe's cartoon is winking, which is a recurring image in this movie: one eye opened, the other closed, much like one does looking into the viewfinder of a camera. To avoid being consumed by Jean Jacket one must close their eyes or avert their gaze; engaging in spectacle gets you killed. Em and O.J. want to profit off of turning Jean Jacket into a spectacle just as Jupe died doing after he already turned his tragedy into a spectacle he was profiting from. Also Jean Jacket is both a giant mouth and an eyeball and its inner form looks like a camera lens and it's staring at us all throughout the opening credits.
And I have to cut it off there, otherwise I'll have 8 paragraphs of me losing my mind over how thematically rich this movie is.
It's a true shame that this wasn't the hit that Peele wanted it to be, not just because I want him to make money to make more movies but because it's the cliche of "they don't make 'em like they used to." Everything is so studio-mandated and focus-tested until it's finally pushed out on an assembly-line that's unfriendly to Directors and Writers, resulting in unremarkable, under-seasoned entertainment content product rife with synthetic visuals; cgi and green-screen. There's no pulse and it's hideous to look at; lacks texture, warmth, depth, tangibility. Nope deserves every dollar that every vacuous movie Hollywood cranks out. So much about this movie goes against every artless shortcut or workaround used to make movies now; shot in real locations with dynamic lighting and thoughtful blocking. The Mission: Impossible movies are the exception to this rule, particularly with stunts and action staging, but the scripts don't come anywhere close to this.
With so much personality and thought behind the camera, Peele managed to make an Amblin-coded movie that handily outdoes not just other Spielberg rip-offs (Super 8) but Spielberg himself, without being derivative. Spielberg has a UFO movie coming out next year and I'm mostly curious because of the cast. Peele also has a movie coming out next year that I know nothing about; guess which one I'm more excited for?
There's a meme on Twitter that anytime Nope is mentioned, a 'best scene' is brought up without specificity. It's funny because there is no singular Best Scene. Anyone who loves it can easily think of about five or six different examples of what it might be. My favorite is O.J.'s Run: from the exciting tonal switch-up and genre-morphing Peele pulls off (going from horror to straight-up western adventure) it's just so fucking thrilling and fun. Considering the sheer amount of indistinguishable CGI (which is the best kind of CGI) in every shot is stupefying. Like, the clouds are cgi, for fuck's sake. And I don't mean the clouds in this scene: every cloud in the movie, which is staggering because it's insane. The run itself is dangerous so there's tension but the score allows us to enjoy it at the same time and goddamn is it fun. Watching O.J. whip open his satchel and unfurl the rainbow pennant streamers behind Lucky as the, again, seamless Jean Jacket soars over them, all while Michael Abels' 'The Run' is propelling everything...
That's what I define as Movie Magic.
And, still, Nope asks if Movie Magic is even worth it since it involves so much exploitation for profit. Peele clearly loves this medium but he truly despise those who use it irresponsibly and erase the contributions of the exploited, human and animal alike.
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