Luke McWilliams gives his review of the 2022 science fiction horror, Nope (M), starring Daniel Kaluuya and Keke Palmer.

After seeing the violent aftermath on a television production set, we flash over to an isolated ranch, where owner Otis Haywood Sr. (Keith David) trains a horse for an upcoming TV show. Suddenly, coins and keys start mysteriously raining from the cloudy sky. Six months later, siblings Otis ‘OJ’ Jr. (Daniel Kaluuva) and Emerald Haywood (Keke Palmer) struggle to keep the ranch afloat, having to sell their horses to a neighbouring Western theme park. One stormy night, the Haywood house loses power, and their horses get spooked due to a dark shape flying through the sky.

The third feature film from writer-director and producer Jordan Peele (Key & Peele) is a sci-fi drama with a lot of themes, symbols, allegories and metaphors that will keep you thinking about what exactly everything means as opposed to being enmeshed in the environment, story and characters. Whereas Peele’s debut, Get Out, brilliantly melded these elements with a solid contemporary thriller highlighting the worrying occurrence of casual racism, Peele’s second outing, Us, bit off more than it could chew, not being able to land its ambitious concept. Here, Peele attempts to weave a commentary on the modern-day want of spectacle and the dangers of such narrow-sightedness. This vision is muddled, however, with a seemingly unconnected side story, a clumsy commentary on Hollywood and the history of film, and mankind’s attempt at taming the untameable.

Verdict: Another ambitious effort aiming to elevate above its genre. However, Like M. Night Shyamalan’s Signs, sometimes simplicity is key. 2.5 stars.

Luke McWilliams themovieclub.net. Viewed at Dendy cinemas.

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