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Say yes to Jordan Peele’s “Nope”

(Photo courtesy of Duluth News Tribune) Jordan Peele’s newest smash hit has arrived in cinemas everywhere.

Kyra Barry
Connector Editor

Mild spoilers for Jordan Peele’s Nope.  

Jordan Peele’s latest effort presents the audience with a straightforward narrative of folks out in the country dealing with a UFO, but those familiar with Peele’s work have gotten used to the idea that there is more than meets the eye with his stories. Watching it will undoubtedly have viewers constantly going saying ‘nope’ alongside the characters. 

To some, “Nope” felt it was confusing and slow paced. To others, this is not the case—the film’s pace never drags, and it has sufficient clues sprinkled throughout to explain elements of the plot that aren’t as obvious. Unlike the fast paced, action-filled thrillers that seem popular for the tone of modern horror, “Nope” at times feels calm, with a constant tension that never completely goes away. Its moments of apparent reprieve serve only to highlight the horror aspect when it flies onto the screen, to great effect. 

Daniel Kaluuya and Keke Palmer play siblings Otis “OJ” Haywood Jr. and Emerald “Em” Haywood, respectively, who have shared a recent tragedy that brings them together to save the horse entertainment business they run while bearing the weight of what has happened. The characters feel alive and like true siblings, with a history as complicated and wrought as sibling relationships can be. Regardless, they are not without love and a deep abiding connection that carries through the movie in the face of unidentified monsters. 

The film’s reoccurring theme, which underlines most characters’ motives while playing a part in the horror, is the dangers of exploitation of others for entertainment, and how a cavalier attitude towards others can blow up in one’s face. Throughout the film, scenes of the traumatizing childhood incident of businessperson Ricky “Jupe” Park (Steven Yeun), are sprinkled throughout in snippets, out of order and punctuating otherwise innocuous scenes. It serves to ramp up the tension, and while it’s seemingly unrelated to the story of a UFO, it sheds important insight into the motives of Jupiter, and highlights how harmful exploitation can be. 

Viscerally horrifying, a consequence of this exploitation, the scene at Jupiter’s Claim was one of the most upsetting body horror scenes in a film since the first chest burster scene in Alien. The set up and follow-through are masterfully executed. Beyond simple violence and murder, beyond torture, its upsetting nature unfolds with the victims potentially doomed to a horrendous and drawn-out fate. 

The main characters are not without wrongdoing either, arguably perpetuating exploitation and the theme of it as well, ignoring the risk of getting others killed in their attempts to get what they call the “Oprah shot.” It feels like a fitting reference, given how Oprah has benefited from making a spectacle of others. It appears as a pointed critic on Peele’s part, as he includes a character who pays homage to an individual interviewed on Oprah’s show who was injured by a chimp and shown off by Oprah for her viewer’s entertainment. Their lack of self-preservation at times as they seek this “Oprah shot” puts them directly in harm’s way several times, ignoring the wiser option to flee. Again, this film will have the audience repeatedly going ‘nope’ as they take part in viewing the sickening events unfold. 

Whether or not this film is a standalone or the start of a series remains to be seen, but it does leave the audience with a few loose ends. “Get Out” and “Us” played with similarly fascinating concepts that could have also been made into series, but never were. So, it is entirely possible “Nope” will also end up being a solo film. Even if Peele decides to go this route, however, it’s no big loss, for his work continues to entertain without building franchises.  

Having crafted a subgenre of his own,  Jordan Peele’s horror and humor grips the guts of the audience and does not release his hold through the highs and lows. Written during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Peele’s film pays tribute to the “bad miracle” of a world trapped in a devastating cycle caused by a virus, and the unsubstantial spectacle news has become. (Yet perhaps has always been, underneath the mundane routine of daily living.). 

Grade: A 

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