MOVIE REVIEW: NOPE

When it comes to cinema I rarely ever pay to see a film more than once in a theater. The last time I ever did such a thing was when “Endgame” dropped an extra BTS scene after the credits that was far from worth my time. “Nope” is a different story, and has now become the second film I have ever paid to see more than once in a theater and here’s the reasoning behind such madness in a capitalist “country” with a failing economy: Art is meant to appear fresh and ambitious even though there is nothing new under the sun. Notable Reincarnation in a maternity ward where everyone’s baby looks the same was Jordan Peele’s daunting task when already birthing two memorable horror films back to back (“Get Out”, “Us”) under his creator owned studio venture “Monkey Paw” productions, now synonymous with envelope pushing horror flicks as much as “Blumhouse” is synonymous with tepid (at best) thrillers.

Fusing the elements of horror along with the age old western was an intelligent maneuver on Peele’s part thanks to the Western not only being the first big genre to hit cinemas, as well as the factoid of “The Horse In Motion” being interwoven into the plot.
With bits of history, an audiophiles influence of what a song sounds like when a vinyl or cassette player is on low power plus a comedy that the bourgeoise couldn’t be bothered to understand inserted throughout the film, “Nope” gives viewers a journey through some of the soft spoken parts of the home of cinema, that California tourists may have never seen, but that natives of the desert paradise such as myself, recognize with somewhat of a fondness, as well as a bittersweet gratefulness that the state of stars inspired people like me to move on and explore greener pastures.

With this film being in part a love letter to California, it only made sense that the scream queen from the wildest of wet dreams KeKe Palmer was featured as the female lead. A native to one of the big three U.S. cities (Chi-Town), Palmer passes as a big city girl in her ability to bring that Chicago sauce and translate that into her portrayal as Eme : complete with the tomboy, boisterous nature, found in most female’s that I recall from my South Central days. Having Belizean sisters in the Crenshaw District myself, at times I felt as if I was watching one of my own kin on screen since Palmer was able to bring out both the toughness and oft hidden vulnerabilities found in the natural, nurturing energy brought about when a California girl senses a threat to her family.

The design of Peele’s creature was unique and will undoubtedly go down the path of memory lane in nightmare along with Scott’s “Alien” or Carpenter’s “Thing”. Daniel Kaluuya apparently hadn’t had enough of stealing scenes in “Get Out” and plays the main protagonist – a pure straightman, no nonsense character with the vibe of the everyman, but with the spark of something more. If there ever was a picture in the dictionary to light being held under a bushel, put Kaluuya as OJ here right up in there. And of course what would a film set in California be without Asian and Mexican representation?

Both Brandon Perea and Steven Yuen play integral roles within “Nope” to where the film may have been shorter without them, but in no way would this feature have been the same.I first saw “Nope” in 4DX, and even though this was the first film I saw in that format without 3D glasses, I wasn’t disappointed. I came back the next day to see the film in IMAX after discovering that this movie was filmed with IMAX cameras, and has various nods to the screen size throughout the film. A completely different experience, however how one chooses to see “Nope” a selection of watching this in the form of a specialty format is indeed a “yes”!

With so much focused on the camera, it’s a wonder why the film begins with an establishing shot of a film set gone to hell, when sure enough the scenes in this film are far from that. Though, some of the side stories (particularly the “Gordy” arc) do seem to be more than needed in this film, Peele (as always) has a message for the audience with this film. Now what that message is, is up to the viewer, but after seeing “Nope” I can say that I walked away with the knowledge that balloons popping are annoying to more than just myself, heightened respect for nature, both a strengthened love and hate for image capturing technology and the answer to the question of “what is the name is for a “bad” miracle” still unanswered.

Eh, this is “Nope”, I have no problem going through this cinematic experience again to figure that out.

Score : 4/5

Director: Jordan Peele

Distributed by: Universal Pictures