Nope review: Jordan Peele’s foggiest film yet

Though filled to the brim with impressive visuals and intriguing concepts, Nope spends too much time introducing new questions than paying off old ones – resulting in lackluster thrills.

In just two films, Jordan Peele has managed to solidify himself as *the* definitive horror director of the decade – between Get Out and Us, Peele has become synonymous with ‘elevated horror’, sociopolitical commentary, and plenty of creative scares. His latest film, Nope, brought with it an understandable amount of hype – after his first two grand-slam entries, hopes were high that he’d be able to knock yet another horror mind-bender out of the park.

Unfortunately for us, though, his latest film Nope was a letdown of epic proportions. Despite a charismatic leading lady in Keke Palmer and more than enough interesting concepts to fill the runtime, Peele’s reluctance to provide concrete answers and explanations left the film feeling half-baked and lackluster rather than mind-boggling and pulse-pounding.

Starring Keke Palmer, and Daniel Kaluuya, Nope follows brother-sister duo Emerald (Palmer) and Otis Jr. “OJ” (Kaluuya), borderline estranged siblings who reluctantly reunite after the death of their father (Keith David) puts their family horse-training business in jeopardy. Though local authorities insist their dad’s death was nothing more than a freak accident, increasingly mysterious circumstances lead OJ to believe something extraterrestrial was responsible for Otis Sr.’s death, and together Emerald and OJ (with the help of local Fry’s techie Angel (Brandon Perea)) set out to capture the UFO on camera.

On paper, Nope has all the hallmarks of another classic Peele entry – a mysterious, unsettling cold open filled to the brim with foreshadowing, an all-star cast anchored by a haunted main character, and mystery upon mystery that sends the plot spinning in a new direction with every passing minute. To its credit, the first hour of Nope is its strongest – a masterclass in tension-building and hint-dropping that sets up for one hell of a payoff when the film’s climax finally rolls around.

What’s frustrating, then, is that Nope never resolves to answer any of the questions it poses – narrative, philosophical, or otherwise. It’s not as if Peele needs to explain every line and subtle detail (some of the most fun you can have with his movies is picking apart Easter eggs), but when it comes to Nope, he seems reluctant to clear up virtually anything, so when the credits finally roll, you’re left with a feeling of confusion and underwhelming – a very “that’s it?” phenomena.

As for the plot itself, Nope tells two stories – that of the Haywood family and their farm, as well as the backstory of Jupe Park (Steven Yeun), the Haywoods’ neighbor and the owner of Jupiter’s Claim, a nearby Wild West theme park. When it comes to the Haywood’s side of the story, Nope presents a surprisingly straightforward, run-of-the-mill UFO storyline: from the first suspicions of alien life to the setup and eventual capture, there’s nothing all that out of the ordinary about Peele’s approach to a sci-fi genre staple.

Sure, there’s a handful of great fakeouts, and the nighttime attempts to capture the aliens on camera are well-paced and as pulse-pounding, as one would expect from a Peele film, but there’s a surprising lack of character depth among the Haywood family, and a refusal on the film’s part to meaningfully engage with their relationship dynamics outside of their attempts to film the UFO.

Though there are a few nods towards some of the more complicated elements of their past – like Emerald’s dream of horse training and OJ’s general introverted attitude – the lack of substantial development for both siblings leaves Nope‘s slower moments (which are far and few between as it is) feeling hollow.

The same cannot be said, however for Jupe’s outlandish backstory, which suffers from the exact opposite problem – there’s plenty of development and time devoted to exploring his traumatic past and the freak accident that led to his involvement with the aliens(?) in the first place, but it’s never resolved in a satisfying way – instead, Jupe is quite literally sucked from the story 2/3 of the way through the film and never mentioned again.

What’s most frustrating about the lack of depth for Emerald in OJ is that Peele has two incredible actors who both turn in impressive performances – Kaluuya is reliable as the withdrawn and determined OJ, and Palmer turns in a career-best as the outspoken, charismatic Emerald.

They make a wonderful pair and nail the sibling dynamic effortlessly, but their talents are almost wasted with how little Peele seems interested in letting them shine beyond the confines of an ever-evolving narrative: the film is too intent on sci-fi storytelling to slow down and check in with its characters.

Of the main cast, Steven Yeun’s Jupe and Brandon Perea’s Angel function the most effectively – though the latter may mainly serve as comic relief, both characters are allotted the proper balance between narrative relevance and personal depth – which is why it’s so frustrating that Peele doesn’t understand how to find that same balance with Emerald and OJ.

When the credits roll on Nope, our feeling wasn’t one of exhilaration or long-awaited clarity or even intrigue – it was more of an ‘oh, that’s it?” – a disbelief that after all the buildup, the UFO mystery did actually turn out to be the open-and-shut story it was presented as. There are certainly bizarre loose threads that seem more in line with Peele’s previous work (particularly, a subplot involving a defunct children’s tv show featuring a violent chimpanzee named Gordy) but even those more unorthodox elements aren’t folded in with the Haywood story in an effective or satisfying way.

Though Peele’s penchant for striking visuals and creative scares is still very much present, Nope is without question his weakest film yet – a frustratingly one-note science fiction thriller filled to the brim with talented actors and intriguing character beats that it refuses to engage with. Between the watered-down storytelling, the hollow characters, and the frustrating lack of coherence between the interwoven stories, Nope is one summer blockbuster that can’t quite deliver.

Nope is currently playing in theaters.