Nope: Movie Review

Daniel Kaluuya in Nope © 2022 Universal Studios

After their father's mysterious death, OJ and his sister Emerald discover there is something strange going on around their ranch. Something unexpected and out of this world.

Jordan Peele's highly anticipated third film is here and it's a doozy. Nope, written and directed by Peele, features Get Out's Daniel Kaluuya and Keke Plamer as siblings dealing with their father's death and the threat of something sinister.

While Nope is visually stunning, the story falls flat toward the end. The alien design is very creative and interesting to look at but Peele fails to give the viewer any details about the creature. This may have been by design, to keep you guessing, but the lack of context makes it hard to really connect to the movie.

Same goes for the characters. While Kaluuya is a fantastic actor, OJ is a very stiff and not very fleshed out. So much so that not even Kaluuya can save it. Emerald is better but not by much. Palmer does carry this movie with her acting and comedic timing. It hardly seems like the two are even related with how they act around each other. It's implied in the movie that Emerald left the ranch and OJ is upset by that but we don't get much more information than that.

The setting for Nope was gorgeous and set a nice stage for the movie but it wasn't enough to save it. There were characters that were unimportant and muddied the story, like Steven Yeun's Jupe character or the inclusion of Barbie Ferreria's Nessie. (Did you even remember she had a name?)

By the end of this almost three hour movie you're confused and lost. It's a different take on the alien sci-fi genre, sure, but this is not the way to go. The beginning is confusing, the middle is way too long, and the end is quick and makes little to no sense. And if you're expecting a horror movie like his other two movies, you will be disappointed.