NOPE : Tuesday 16th August 2022.

I saw 'NOPE' earlier this week and this eagerly awaited highly anticipated M Rated American Sci-Fi horror film is Written, Co-Produced and Directed by Jordan Peele whose two previous film making outings were the highly acclaimed 'Get Out' in 2017 and 'Us' in 2019. The film saw its World Premier showcasing in Los Angeles on 18th July, was released Stateside on 22nd July and here in Australia on 11th August having so far grossed US$117M from its production budget of US$68M and has garnered generally positive critical reviews. The films title was rumoured to be an acronym for 'Not Of Planet Earth' or 'Not Our Planet Earth' based on the movie poster, but Peele later revealed that the title speaks to the reaction he hoped to garner from audiences.

The film opens up with a short clip of the popular 1998 TV sitcom 'Gordy's Home' being recorded on a  soundstage before the titular chimpanzee animal actor (Terry Notary) attacks several of its human co-stars after being startled when a balloon bursts on set. We later see the full extent of the attack in flashback as the show's youngest actor, Ricky 'Jupe' Park (Jacob King), cowers under a table and watches the bloodbath unfold but is unharmed, though naturally traumatised by the experience. The chimp finds Jupe and extends his bloodied hand for a fist bump, before being shot dead by authorities.

We then fast forward to the the present day, and ranch owner Otis Haywood Sr. (Keith David) trains and handles horses for Hollywood film and TV productions, under the name of Haywood's Hollywood Horses Ranch. One bright sunny day he is out riding one of his horses, Ghost, and is killed by a quarter coin that pierces his eye and lodges in his brain that seemed to fall inexplicably from the sky. His adult children Otis Jr. - 'OJ' (Daniel Kaluuya) and Emerald 'Em' (Keke Palmer) inherit the ranch. OJ tries to keep the business afloat and protect his father's legacy, while Em seeks fame and fortune in Hollywood, and is happy to sell up. 

Some six months later, while filming a TV commercial with well known and highly regarded cinematographer Antlers Holst (Michael Wincott), one of the horses reacts violently when a crew member startles it suddenly, resulting in the Haywoods being fired from the project. The ranch's financial situation begins to worsen and OJ is forced into selling several of his horses to the now adult Jupe (Steven Yuen), who owns and operates the nearby 'Jupiter's Claim', a small Western theme park and neighbour of the Haywood's, where he exploits his story of the 'Gordy's Home' attack for profit. Jupe offers to buy the ranch from the Haywood's, an offer which Em encourages OJ to accept.

Later the Haywood's notice their electricity supply fluctuating, the mobile phones cutting out and their horses vanishing and violently reacting to a seemingly unknown presence. OJ is the first to see in the clouds above the ranch an unidentified flying object shaped like a flying saucer that has been swallowing up their horses and spitting out any inorganic material, which caused their father's death. Motivated by a desire for wealth and fame, the siblings decide to document evidence of the UFO's existence, and engage Fry's Electronics (a big box consumer electronics store) employee Angel Torres (Brandon Perea) to set up surveillance cameras around the property, all pointing up towards the sky. One night while monitoring the night sky, more electrical interference and a praying mantis on one of the cameras prevent them from securing any clear footage. The next day as Angel secretly monitors the footage from his workplace he observes a nearby cloud that never moves. He rushes over to the ranch with his video footage and together they draw the conclusion that this is the place where the UFO is hiding. 

Jupe starts up a new live show, the 'Star Lasso Experience' in Jupiter's Claim and plans to use a horse, Lucky, as bait to entice the UFO, having previously fed it the horses he had bought from the Haywoods. In front of an audience of about forty made up of  his staff and paying guests, he says that for a number of consecutive Friday evenings at 6:13pm the UFO manifests itself from the skies above. The UFO duly arrives about a hour early and quickly devours Jupe and the whole audience. OJ draws the conclusion that the UFO is not a spaceship, but a predatory, territorial creature which eats anything that looks directly at it. Utilising similar methods to those used to break and train horses, OJ believes they can influence the creature's behaviour to capture footage of it without being killed themselves. They call the creature 'Jean Jacket' after the first horse that Em learned to ride, and they then decide to hire Holst for assistance. Holst initially refuses, but eventually reconsiders after hearing about the Jupiter's Claim incident broadcast on national news that has the Police and authorities baffled as to how forty or so people can just disappear en masse. 

To avoid Jean Jacket's adverse effects on electronics, Holst brings a hand-cranked IMAX film camera to capture footage. With Angel, the group of four hatch a plan to bait Jean Jacket and watch a field of inflatable scattered tube men props for electrical malfunctions to deduce its location in the sky above the ranch. However, a TMZ reporter trespasses onto the ranch and despite being asked to turn around and go back from whence he came by Em he continues onward with his own hand held camera. He is thrown from his electric motorbike when it suddenly powers down within close proximity to Jean Jacket. He in turn is devoured by Jean Jacket while laying injured on the ground but not before begging OJ to film the event. OJ rides off from the scene on Lucky. Though Holst captures footage of Jean Jacket, he lets himself be eaten along with his smaller hand held hand cranked camera, forcing the remaining three to flee. Angel survives an attack from Jean Jacket by wrapping himself in a tarp and binding it with barbed wire, causing the creature to unfurl from its saucer shape and into something more resembling a jellyfish.

OJ lures Jean Jacket away from Em, while she rushes to Jupiter's Claim on the downed motorbike immobilised by the TMZ reporter, and untethers its giant balloon cowboy mascot. She uses an attraction's analog camera located in a wishing well to photograph Jean Jacket as it flies directly overhead and attempts to consume the balloon, which then explodes seemingly killing it. With the picture as proof of the creature's existence and reporters pulling up, Em sees an unharmed OJ ride to Jupiter's Claim on Lucky. 

'Nope' is Jordan Peele's third feature film making outing and here once again he doesn't disappoint, providing the viewer with a mash up of Sci-Fi, horror and Western genres that when combined offer a film that is bigger than the sum of its parts. It is action spectacle writ large with stunning cinematography, just the right amount of humour, a cast on its A-game, and a thrill and chill ride that will maintain the attention throughout its 135 minute run time that never leaves you wanting. The film is entertaining, fun and offers up a few well placed jump scares, despite the ending feeling rushed toward and leaving a number of questions unanswered. For me, 'Nope' gets a resounding Yep!

'Nope' merits four claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a potential five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-