NOPE
Year: 2022
Rating: R
Length: 130 minutes / 2.17 hours
I don’t know why I’m so skeptical of watching Jordan Peele’s horror films. Once I got around to seeing Get Out (2017), it blew me away with how strong its premise challenged normal horror tropes. And while I haven’t seen Us (2019) yet, I didn’t need nearly as much convincing to give NOPE (2022) a try. I feel alien-themed horror is a bit of a niche genre with sci-fi entries like Alien (1979) being more prevalent than Earth-centric invasion movies like Signs (2002). NOPE (which can be interpreted as an acronym for “Not Of Planet Earth”) definitely falls into the latter category.
Overall, I appreciated the slow build-up to the alien reveal. Leaving hints about the cause of various strange events was a great way to add suspense until we finally got to see the alien in question. The alien itself was also a fantastic deviation from the standard “little green men” that usually occupy these kinds of films—truly an “alien” being on display here. This also made the motivation of the characters to capture this creature on film as incredibly realistic as it was completely relatable.
My only qualm with NOPE is that it felt it needed to hammer home the point that animals (aliens included) are inherently violent beings. The bits with the murderous monkey snapping felt quite uncomfortable and out of place, and I think it would have been a stronger film without them. Sure, it tied into the rodeo run by Steven Yeun’s character, but maybe there could have been a subtler way to show how animals will react violently when cornered. After all, most animals have a fight-or-flight response and have to resort to attacking when there’s no chance of escape.
A superb alien horror film by Jordan Peele, I give NOPE 4.0 stars out of 5.
