Of all the films Jordan Peele has directed so far, Nope has to be my favourite. While of course not as ground-breaking as Get Out but not as far-fetched as Us, Nope is a solid, memorable sci-fi thriller with some genuinely original ideas.

OJ Haywood (Daniel Kaluuya) has inherited his late father’s California ranch, where he trains horses for Hollywood productions. One night, while his sister Em (Keke Palmer) is staying at the ranch, OJ sees a UFO. As he and Em work to catch the flying object on camera, they soon realise that the flying saucer may not be merely a vessel carrying extra-terrestrials.

The Characters and Their Story

While you can may be able to predict where their arcs will take them, our two leads are still very interesting to watch. OJ is a relatively shy man who’s still grieving for his late father and is determined to maintain the family ranch. His sister Em on the other hand is more detached from her heritage and, aware of OJ’s financial struggles, is not so protective of the ranch and tries on a few occasions to convince her brother to sell it.

The siblings of course clash throughout the film, both of their positions very understandable. You feel OJ’s attachment to the ranch and the horses while at the same time understand Em’s financial perspective.

The situation the two deal with and the plot that follows is wonderfully bizarre, tense and poignant.

One character, Jupe (Steven Yeun), owns a nearby Western Theme Park and as a child we learn he was in a family sitcom featuring a live chimpanzee. How does this relate to our UFO terrorizing a horse ranch? Only in ways that are meaningful and haunting.

Nope is very well written but running at two hours and 15 minutes I’d be lying if I said it needed to be that long. The first two acts fly by, however towards the climax a lot of last-minute set ups occur and are almost immediately paid off, which makes me question why they were allowed in. They just seem like bits of fat that could’ve been cut and reduced the runtime.

The Horror

I have a lot of praise for Get Out and Us but I must confess that they never really got under my skin as horror films. I don’t like them any less because of that, horror is subjective and Get Out and Us just didn’t tap into my sense of fear.

Nope however did.

I’m not sure if I’ve ever divulged this on here but one thing I find genuinely unnerving is giant monsters, specifically ones we’ve seen in the last 20 years. The idea of something so huge and so powerful that the only thing you can do to combat it is to simply run and hide is a terrifying scenario for me. You’re in such a powerless position. Films like Cloverfield, The Meg and even War of the Worlds from 2005 can make me tense and uncomfortable.

The UFO in Nope may not be a traditional giant monster like Godzilla or the tripods but with its seamless ability to hide in the clouds and swoop down out of nowhere, at an incredible speed, it’s just as powerful and ineludible as a modern kaiju.

It’s weird, it may not be for everyone and it’s definitely a tad too long but one thing I can say with confidence about Nope is that I have seen few things like it, which in this age where there are more films and TV than ever, is a big compliment.

I give Nope a positive 8 out of 10.