Review: ‘Nope’ is a Sprawling, Beguiling Sci-Fi Success
Jordan Peele’s third feature film is a shift from his prior work, but it remains massively effective
When I first saw Nope theatrically in 2022, I didn’t fully get it. I left the cinema a little nonplussed, and frankly a little disappointed. Get Out, Peele’s directorial debut and still a really impressive, subversive horror film with plenty to say about race both in horror cinema and off-screen, had proven that Peele was a new, distinctive voice with important things to say. Us hadn’t been as brilliant as his debut, but it was still very entertaining. In hindsight, Us and Nope are both quite perplexing, but Us is an easier pill to swallow due to its frequent gags and its more straight forward narrative.
I was, however, excited to rewatch the film after getting a copy on DVD. While it doesn’t look as impressive at home as it did in cinemas in 2022, I found myself much more intrigued by Peele’s points now that I knew what to expect.
Nope is a tricky film to explain. Its plot is simple enough — OJ and Emerald Haywood (Daniel Kaluuya and Keke Palmer respectively) are running their father’s ranch following his death. That ranch is populated by horses who are used in films, going all the way back to Eadweard Muybridge’s The Horse in Motion…
