Nope

NOPE, or Not Of Planet Earth, arrived and with it a Jordan Peele we don't know. Where his previous films, Us and Get Out, relied on a central idea, a social-racial subtext and an attempt to shock, here we get a full-blown sci-fi flick with small overlapping themes (people's fascination with the "spectacles" around them, the quest to tame animals, the domination of nature by predators, the uncompromising Hollywood industry and its treatment of actors and filmmakers as trash, and other themes less visible...). This makes me find it quite amusing that with Us and Get Out conventional viewers grumbled that they wanted a horror film and got social criticism, and here again they grumble that they wanted "classic Jordan" and got science fiction. Whatever, haters gonna hate and they’ll always find an excuse. But about the film itself. The duo of Peele and Daniel Kaluuya are a perfect fit for each other, as they've proven once before, and the same is true here, and the cinematography is great (NOPE is the first horror film to be shot in IMAX format), the sound design is even better and only gives the film its full status in the sci-fi genre. The central idea is admittedly familiar to everyone at its core (UFOs, right?), but it is cleverly differentiated in the details, the rules that are set, and also by the shape of the flying saucer. We discover in the course of the film that it is not actually a classic UFO as we are used to. The first third is a decent start, the second third a complete immersion into the plot and then the final part is an unstoppable, action, blood and tension-packed ride that goes full speed ahead until the end and shows us that Peele knows how to do it. The two-hour running time is not boring at all, the acting is something to behold. I have a small problem with the fact that the trailer promised certain elements that the film shrewdly avoided and as a result not only failed to deliver, but didn't even lean into them at all (I won't spoil specific scenes), but all in all, I'm satisfied. I was looking forward to a "classic Peele", which I didn't get, but in return I was served a spectacular sci-fi flick with an original monster that will please everyone. (08/18/2022)

For two thirds the film is a compelling, engrossing and carefully constructed horror-thriller mystery that kept me engaged as the characters struggled to get to the bottom of the mystery. This part of Nope, which I was very pleased with, culminated in a magnificent night scene with "blood rain" that made me glow with bliss and consider awarding five star to a horror flick for the first time in a long time. But, as you can see, I didn’t go further than three. Because the film then turns into an action charade, where you don't care about the characters and just try to catch the design of the weird contraption and figure out if you like it or not. And what shocked me above all is that it doesn't actually come to anything. After his previous two films, you'd expect Jordan Peele to be ... smarter than that? Us may have been logically leaky, but I found its social references were very stimulating (and that goes twofold  for Get Out). There's nothing like that in Nope, or I don't see it there at first. Many people, often dismissively, refer to Peele as the king of "elevated horror", but this is, in the end, more or less an ordinary genre film. In the space of half an hour, the film shoots two or three banal ideas (what people are willing to risk for fame and success / the fascination with tragedy / the stupid notion that man can tame everything), which it then repeats to the point of foolishness, but doesn't take them anywhere. I don't want to sound overly critical, Nope is definitely nice to look at, it has a number of impressive scenes and it's certainly a good film to see in the cinema, but after the excellent first two acts I can't help feeling disappointed at the end. (08/17/2022)

Jordan Peele has once again proven that he's an intriguing director, just like he did with Get Out. In Nope, he delves into themes that no one else has touched, blending a unique black perspective with mysticism, aliens, and a Western vibe. Sounds like a mess? Just watch Nope. It might seem crazy, and it is, but it's an atmospherically genius kind of crazy, with stunning cinematography. I haven't been so captivated by shots of clouds in a long time. The film is filled with more WTF moments than you can imagine, and its ending is fantastic — though it does dip into a Hollywood vibe just when you think it's entirely anti-Hollywood. For those moments and the riveting conclusion, this movie truly deserves your attention. I haven't watched TV with such interest and curiosity in a long time. (05/24/2024)

An amazing atmosphere and so many original ideas... I'm glad that they still make (and get into cinemas) films like this that are probably impossible to fully understand at first, but which have such charm that you want to watch them again and only fully understand them afterwards. Original plot, realistic story, great (and well acted) characters, a sense of constant mystery… It's not horror, because then Close Encounters of the Third Kind, which Peele combines with Jaws, Signs and more, would have to be horror. I haven't seen a more original design of an alien "something" since Arrival, a number of scenes are without exaggeration unforgettable and I look forward to seeing them again. I think Nope is in many ways on par with Christopher Nolan's films, and if Nolan or Dennis Villeneuve had made it instead of Peele, the ratings here would be quite different. (09/03/2022)

After the overly pretentious Us, where social critique and metaphor overwhelmed the functioning of the film as a whole, with Nope Jordan Peele returns to a simple idea set in a functional genre piece, as he did with Get Out. And it has exactly that Spielberg charm of wonder at the supernatural element, touches of well-measured comedy, moments of chilling horror and, most importantly, adventure. There hasn't been a film this epically adventurous, with the feeling that you're experiencing an exclusive adventure together with the characters, for a long time. Thumbs up! Is Jordan Peele the cinematic genius and horror wizard the American media and critics in particular would have us believe? Not at all. But is he an interesting and capable filmmaker whose work is worth watching? That’s for sure. (09/10/2022)