When it comes to the horror genre, there is no shortage of great filmmakers. From John Carpenter to Wes Craven, Dario Argento, and George Romero, the genre has given the cinematic landscape icons that shaped the foundation of the genre and cinema as a whole. In 2017, Jordan Peele arrived as the next great horror director. Better known for his comedic work at the time, Peele set the cinematic world ablaze with Get Out, a film rich with commentary and conversation-sparking themes. Peele’s debut led him to the Oscar stage as the writer/director claimed the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.
After the success of Get Out, the excitement for his second film, Us, can’t be undersold. That excitement was rewarded with a challenging existential film with its characters self-examining their motives and the audience. While under appreciated by the Academy, the film cemented Peele as a filmmaker to be excited about, no matter the project.
As the calendar shifted to 2022, Jordan Peele’s latest film Nope was on the horizon, and the question was not if the film would be great but how great it could be. The answer to that question is yep. Nope is Jordan Peele’s most giant and ferocious swing yet. With John Carpenter’s craftsmanship and a Hitchcockian mastery of building tension, Peele creates an otherworldly summer spectacle.
OJ and Emerald live on the only black-owned horse ranch serving productions throughout Hollywood. After their father Otis Sr. is killed by an unexplained occurrence, the duo is given an offer by Ricky Park to sell the business to him. With an offer in place, OJ and Emerald’s ranch continue to experience mysterious events, the question of not just what is causing these events to come into play, but how can the brother and sister capture the Oprah shot in trying to film the occurrences.
As mentioned before, Peele’s first two films are layered with sociopolitical commentary that has sparked analysis and even an entire UCLA course on Get Out. With Nope, Peele’s screenplay is filled with his known trademarks. However, it is more surface-level and visceral.
In an interview before the film, Peele stated,
“I wrote it in a time when we were a little bit worried about the future of cinema. So the first thing I knew is I wanted to create a spectacle… the great American UFO story.”
Peele accomplishes that with ease as Nope harkens back to the blockbusters of yesteryear, Jaws and Close Encounters of the Third Kind while still keeping cinephiles on the edge of their seats with his known frenetic tension. Peele’s screenplay doesn’t demand constant psychoanalysis but just enjoyment.
That enjoyment comes alive thanks to the two performances of Academy Award winner Daniel Kaluuya and Keke Palmer. Kaluuya and Palmer have tremendous chemistry despite Kaluuya’s OJ being more stoic, while Palmer’s Emerald has the more prominent on-screen presence. What could have been a disaster is downright impeccable.
On the supporting side of things, it’s always great to see Steven Yeun. However, his lack of screen time is one of the film’s downfalls. Despite not giving too much to do, Yeun’s charisma is infectious and is quite good in the movie.
Three films into his career, Peele’s direction has never been better. Peele evokes confidence and trust in his talents and his audience that they understand and grasp his intentions. Nope’s intricate and large set pieces are unlike anything Peele has directed before, and the execution is masterful.
On the technical side of things, the sound design and Michael Abels’s score impresses, while in his first collaboration with Peele, Hoyte Van Hoytema’s cinematography is a visual wonder. Watching this film on IMAX offers a cinematic phenomenon that captures every inch of the screen while showing off Hoytema’s lens in the most impressive way.
While Nope is Jordan Peele’s weakest film, it doesn’t mean it’s a bad one. On the contrary, Nope lives in greatness thanks to Peele’s growth as a director and the ability to challenge himself on a large scale. While the film will not be short of a divide between cinephiles, Nope cements Jordan Peele as one of the few directors whose name on a poster sells the film, and in an era of long standing previously established intellectual properties, it’s an accomplishment that deserves our praise.
