NOPE (2022) – Close Encounters of the zero kind
Rating: ⭐ 1/2
Jordon Peele have had his fair share of recent successes in the horror genre with the likes of Get Out and Us, as well as the revival of the TV anthology series The Twilight Zone. My observation is that his films are generally borderline racist movies which depicts the whites as idiots, or the villains. Nope is his latest brainchild given his multiple involvement here as the film’s writer, director and producer. While there is still the underlying black biasness here, the anti-white statements are admittedly more minor and subtle this time.
He has also recruited his Get Out star Daniel Kaluuya here in the lead. If I have to be honest, Daniel was not good here. He basically portrayed his character at one boring level, exhibiting little life or energy in his role. Keke Palmer who plays his sister, on the other hand had lots of moments to jump about and behave erratically which was also annoying to watch. Steven Yeun at least manage to put up a presence each time he appeared although the actions of his character were also confusing. Perhaps we cannot blame the actors for their dismal performances given the poorly conceived story which revolves around the encounters with aliens in a deserted part of California.
The second half of the movie picked up a bit with the direct confrontations between our main stars and the extraterrestial entity that had been haunting them providing some exciting moments. However, Jordon Peele failed to capitalize on this with the illogical conclusion and the seemingly weak plan by the humans on how they plan to fight the external being. Since very little is being shared about how the alien thinks or behaves, its action on how it battles with the humans just becomes convenient points for the film to move towards its conclusion.
Nope is Jordan Peele’s weakest movie from his recent efforts, and all I can say is that its title aptly says it all .. “Nope” not for me …