Nope (2022) *

 

Directed by:  Jordan Peele

Starring:  Daniel Kaluuya, Keke Palmer, Steven Yeun, Michael Wincott, Keith David, Brandon Perea

Jordan Peele's Nope reminded me of M. Night Shyamalan's Signs (2002), another movie involving an imminent alien attack with a tedious, drawn-out buildup and a payoff that doesn't reward our patience.  Peele's feature directorial career started with Get Out (2017), a suspenseful thriller with race relations as its backdrop.   That movie won Peele a Best Original Screenplay Oscar and put him on the map.  Us (2019) was a bloody, far less successful follow-up which involved clones and Hands Across America, which you may or may not remember took place in the mid 1980's when musician charity functions were all the rage.   Now, we have Nope, Peele's second underwhelming film in a row.   His career pattern is starting to resemble Shyamalan's as well:  One great film followed by a series of substandard ones.  

Nope reteams Peele with his Get Out leading man Oscar-winner Daniel Kaluuya, who plays Hollywood horse trainer OJ Haywood (yes, comments are made about his being named OJ).  OJ's horses aren't acting right these days.   They run away, or seem attracted to something in the sky.   OJ and his more outgoing and outspoken sister Emerald (Palmer) discover a cloud which either doesn't move or moves when the others don't.   OJ and Emerald buy a security camera system from Fry's Electronics, in which the salesperson/installer Angel (Perea) becomes emotionally vested in the happenings at the Haywood Ranch.  Also on hand is cinematographer Antlers Holst (Wincott), who tells Emerald he uses two camera to shoot one film for himself and one for them.   

It turns out there is a UFO in the clouds which is actually a mean green mother from outer space that swallows the horses whole, as well as people.  The flying saucer is the monster's disguise.   A local car dealer (Yeun) who watched a monkey destroy the set and some people during a Saturday Night Live taping provides some off-kilter insight into what might be out there.   The setup here lacks energy and even Kaluuya can hardly roust himself out of a walking stupor.   He can hardly be bothered to raise his voice to the level of audible speech.   Palmer's Emerald is his opposite, and she at least tries to pump up the wattage, but to no avail.   These people find the alien has an aversion to a giant plastic horse found on the car dealer's lot and those swaying "skydancers or Tall Boys" which you see more and more outside local businesses these days.   If you think for one second that I looked up what the names of these things are, then you would be correct. 

Nope takes a strong cast and strands it in a quicksand plot.   Truth in reviewing:  I dozed off for a portion of Nope because it wasn't able to provide me an alternative to a nap in a theater recliner.   I awoke to find I didn't miss much, and that I understood everything there was to understand about Nope, which ultimately was a slog.