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"Nope" dir. by Jordan Peele


"Nope"

Where I saw it: Cinema

The 3rd film by Jordan Peele is definitely his biggest directorial achievement. While I've enjoyed his other 2 films I've never really been overly blown away by the shots. This time, this dude has IMAX cameras.

Acting is superb by Daniel Kaluuya and Keke Palmer, they balance each other out nicely with one being pure energy and the other being a more subdued pensive personality type. Supporting cast is great as well with Steven Yeun and the legendary Keith David.

I love that while Jordan Peele is becoming this horror auteur he still manages to fill his movies with humor that doesn't compromise the scary stuff. There's some hilarious bits in Nope, in particular a scene with a guy from TMZ.

As with all of Peele's films, there is an underlying social message and this time it's focused on world matters that are turned into "spectacles" for our entertainment purposes. This is really obvious with the side story about Gordy a chimp who went... bananas... on a TV set and basically killed everyone but a sole survivor who grew up and now charges customers to see the memorabilia from the disastrous episode.

As a side note I'm getting big into the world of UAPs. I'm reading Sekret Machines currently and I would be shocked if Jordan Peele hasn't also read these books because within 10 minutes of this movie starting there were a bunch of similar incidents and topics mentioned. I wonder what Tom DeLonge thinks of this movie.

The Phenomenon is certainly intriguing and I hope that we learn more about these crafts/vessels that seem to be lurking in the skies. I'm glad that a movie like this exists if only to help push us further toward seeking answers or at the very least make people slightly more open-minded about The Phenomenon.

From a horror standpoint, I think this movie could have gone further. There are some really horrific scenes that 100% hit the nail on the head.

Without a doubt a proficiently made film that is fun and engaging but hurts your head the more thought you put into it. Unfortunately it does get really stupid at times. I wish they would have gone a different direction with the nature of "Jean Jacket." Think of this as a weird Tremors sequel and maybe you won't be as disappointed as I was.

I would love to go into more detail about the failings of this film but in order to do that I would have to go into big time spoilers, so trust me when I say that it started off strong but ended up being a let down. There were a bunch of moments where the logic of the film imploded on itself. I'll be subtle for those that have seen it already: territorial, don't look in the eyes, motorcycle, cameras, plastic horse, inflatable balloon man.

Still excited to see what Peele comes up with next, while this isn't my favorite of his, there's no question that he is one of the few mainstream horror directors putting out interesting and (more or less) original content.

6/10

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