Nope Review

 

Certificate: 15

Running time: 130 minutes 

Starring: Keke Palmer, Daniel Kaluuya, Steven Yeun, Brandon Perea 

Directed by: Jordan Peele

The story: When an alien like phenomenon in the sky starts causing odd occurrences, a horse wrangler decides to investigate further. 

The verdict: Director Jordan Peele has scored a hat trick with the release of Nope. Just as Get Out and Us did previously, Nope is yet another film which takes the audience on a visually astounding, provocative and thematically rich journey.

Although Nope joins its predecessors in its quality, it does differ slightly in its accessibility. Nope is a lot more disjointed and a lot less linear. The story moves from the past to the present and back again, and is broken into different segments. With that in mind, undoubtedly there will be some audiences who find Nope a bit harder going.

However, even when I felt the film was slightly too fragmented, there was not one second of Nope where I wasn’t engaged and intrigued. I was completely drawn into the mystery and I felt like a character in the story, as perplexed and determined to get to the bottom of things as the actual characters. As the film went on there were moments when my engagement turned to outright goggling at the screen - I was so immersed and impressed by the visuals that I could feel myself gawping at the spectacle before me. 

Underneath all of this are multiple themes and interpretations which make Nope thought provoking throughout. Upon leaving the screening, my mind was racing and several hours later I’m still pondering certain plot details and their meaning. Certainly Nope addresses the way we exploit tragedy and the idea of not being able to tear our eyes away from the horrific. The human race is addicted to watching and rewatching tragic events to our detriment yet history continues to repeat itself. The film also looks at the erasure of black history and how our knowledge of the past is so often skewed towards certain viewpoints.

Another element which elevates Nope is its incredible sound design - for that alone Nope is a must see cinematic experience.

Much like the strange phenomenon in the sky, Nope began as a captivating prospect yet out of my reach. Yet it became so much more and when the credits rolled I felt a physical jerk back to reality. Nope? A big fat yep from me.

The rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ and a half