After conducting extensive coverage of the independent film slate that Tribeca 2022 provided, it was imperative we at The Messenger return to the mainstream movie-verse with a bang.
Thanks to our local “Regal Ronkonkoma,” we most certainly did with a Monday matinee intake of comedian-turned-auteur Jordan Peele’s third feature-length outing, Nope.
The slow-building spectacle about the blood, sweat, tears and need for recovery beers after partaking in ‘spectacle’- certified movie magic is at-times horror, at-times scifi, and an overall more fun ride – one experienced via vicarious horseback – than Peele’s more social commentary-charged Us (2019).
While it’s no Get Out (2017), it doesn’t try to be, nor does it have to be. It’s a different kind of movie altogether–one that owes more to Steven Spielberg’s filmography than it does any other past Peele picture.
Nope pits Peele’s DeNiro to his Scorsese, Get Out leading man Daniel Kaluuya, as “OJ,” the mild-mannered heir to the humble but historically important Haywood’s Hollywood Horses Ranch. Together, with his high-personality sister, Em (Keke Palmer); a recently heartbroken electronic store “techie” named Angel (Brandon Perera); and, for a red hot dessert’s minute, Antlers Holst (Michael Wincott), a revered cinematographer, OJ and his ragtag bunch of deputized ranch-hands vie for the perfect shot of a “UFO.” This unidentified flying object, however, is behaving more like an alien creature than an aircraft transporting one while making cloud-covered appearances above the “nowhereland” setting of the title many believe is a strategic acronym for “Not Of Planet Earth.”
Through earnestness and Cloverfield found-footage aversion, the film finds a recipient to address its love letter to: the art of filmmaking itself. Meanwhile, its colliding backdrops dare to both redeem the forgotten pioneers of the industry and karmatically put its spoiled current champions, many of whom may use their fame to profit off what they morally shouldn’t, in their place. Nope doesn’t require a romance to communicate the prevailing power of love against all adversaries, either. Its leads exhibit kinetic chemistry in a rare-to-film equally distributed opposite-sex sibling bond.
Though Palmer especially steals the film from her Oscar-winning scene partner, Brandon Perrera gives the actress a run for her Nickelodeon, talk show and now here-to-stay movie star money as their forced friend, Angel. Perrera’s clearly one-note character until he became involved with the project is the standout in most scenes that don’t feature the thankfully plenty explored big bad “ship” and Gordy, the TV monkey that snapped once upon a time.
At $68 million, it’s Peele’s biggest budget to date, as well. He justifies every cent spent on Nope by resisting the modern mold that spectacle, by design, means moving assembly sequel production.
Although, to be frank, with an ending like that, Yup wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.
