by alexwrightmovieman

DIR: Jordan Peele

CAST: Daniel Kaluuya, Keke Palmer, Steven Yeun, Michael Wincott, Brandon Perea, Keith David

Writer-director Jordan Peele continues intriguing audiences with his now-signature style of combining horror and comedy, working slowly to the big reveal, and sprinkling his original stories with subtle themes of various sorts. Like his previous efforts Get Out and Us, there is a lot to unpack with Nope, a Western/science fiction story set mostly in Northern California at a horse ranch that breeds animals for the entertainment industry. It is run by a black family named Haywood, who claim to be descendants of the jockey seen in Plate 626, generally considered by most to be the very first moving picture. After the patriarch, Otis (David), is killed by debris mysteriously falling from the sky, his two children, Otis “OJ” Jr. (Kaluuya) and Emerald “Em” Haywood (Palmer), take over the business. As the risk of having live animals on a film set is supplemented by special effects, the ranch begins to suffer financially. So OJ turns to a nearby theme park called Jupiter’s Claim, a western style attraction run by a former child star named Ricky “Jupe” Park (Yeun). Jupe understands the pitfalls of working with live animals. When he was a young boy actor, he witnessed an animal autrocity on a TV set that, quite frankly, is better executed than most modern horror films competing for your innocence. Once we have Peele’s foreshadowing established, we get into the process of the reveal. The horses owned by the ranch are suddenly acting strange. They react violently to a presence that is felt every time the power goes out. Then, they disappear into the clouds. OJ sees such an incident, along with a strange object zipping through the sky. He and Em deduce it must be a flying saucer, and hatch a plan to catch it on film so they can be rich and famous. They recruit a hapless tech employee named Angel (Perea) to help set up the cameras all over the ranch and laying a trap for the alien visitor. Like Jupe, the young crew soon find out the hard way that taming certain beasts is a fool’s venture. Peele’s ability to convey thought-provoking material without compromising the entertainment value of his films is such a rare gift nowadays. When not pondering the ethics of some of the character’s actions, Nope has many moments of fun and excitement as well as moments of uncertainty and tragedy. It portrays flawed humans in a natural world, trying to survive, trying not to get sucked up in its vortex. The climax is a bit messy, forgiven by the fact that we got to watch a creative, enjoyable film that was not a sequel, remake, or shameless cash grab, another rare gift nowadays. We’re not saying we have to go back to the stone age of the business where animals were tamed, used, and sometimes drugged for our amusement. All we ask is to go back to the basics of movie storytelling geared towards adults without subjecting ourselves to another man in tights or conjuring of a ghost. Keep your costume in the closet and for goodness sake, stop summoning the dead. Give us more UFOs and Jordan Peele. Rated R.