“Nope” (2022) written & directed by Jordan Peele, starring Daniel Kaluuya & Keke Palmer / Z-View

Nope (2o22)

Director:  Jordan Peele

Writer:  Jordan Peele

Stars: Daniel Kaluuya, Keke Palmer, Michael Wincott, Steven Yeun, Wrenn Schmidt, Keith David, Terry Notary, Donna Mills, Eddie Jemison, Sophia Coto and ‘Snub’ Pollard.

Tagline:  None.

The Plot…

The Haywood Family trains horses for use in movies and television productions.  Unfortunately the business is struggling.  There’s not much need these days for horses.  Things take a turn for the worse when Otis Haywood, Sr. (David) is stuck and killed by metallic coins, watches, etc. raining from the sky.  The only explanation is the objects fell from a plane.

In an effort to keep the business alive, OJ sells some of the family’s horses to Ricky ‘Jupe’ Park (Yeun).  Park was a child actor who survived a terrible on-set rampage by a monkey that killed/maimed many of his co-stars, but left Park unharmed.  Now Park runs a small old west theme park.

One night, during a terrible electrical storm OJ and his sister Emerald (Palmer) see something in the clouds.  It appears to be a UFO.  Later they notice a strange cloud that never moves… and provides cover for the mysterious UFO.  OJ and Emerald figure if they can prove the UFO’s existence by videoing the UFO, they will make a fortune.  When they discover that the UFO might have been behind the events that cause their father’s death, they realize that their lives are in danger.

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…

I’m a Jordan Peele fan.  I gave both his previous films, Get Out and Us 5 star ratings. He’s an excellent writer and director.  Peele creates interesting characters in unbelievable situations and makes them believable.  He knows how to provide tension and genuine scares.  We get some of that in Nope, but for me it didn’t rise to the level of his previous films.

Nope features a wonderful cast.  Daniel (Sicario) Kaluuya, KeKe Palmer, Michael (Strange Days) Wincott, Steven (The Walking Dead) Yeun and Keith (The Thing) David would make any movie better just by showing up.  I’d never seen Keke Palmer before, but I’ll be watching for her in the future.  The camera loves her.  Michael Wincott and Keith David don’t have big roles, but their impact is huge.  I always enjoy seeing them.  Donna Mills  gets a nice cameo!

There’s a lot going on in Nope.  We have the whole story with the Haywoods, there’s Ricky Park with his western theme park and rampaging monkey backstory, the UFO that may not be a UFO at all and more.  Peele loves his characters and he’s created a bunch for Nope.  I wish we’d got to know them better.  It feels like the story is a mile wide and an inch deep.  But Peele may have wanted the audience to fill in the blanks.  The other aspect that fell short for me was the ending.  I don’t want to give away much so I’ll just say that the ending seemed a bit too pat for my taste.

Nope is a movie that most people liked better than me.  So keep in mind, your mileage (as always) could vary.  I look forward to whatever Jordan Peele cooks up next.

Nope (2o22) rates 2 of 5 stars.