Digital Editor Cara-Louise Scott is disappointed by Jordan Peele’s NOPE, finding it to leave audiences with many unanswered questions
The trailer to NOPE seems to promise an unusual mystery that will keep you on your toes with its suspenseful plot. While it does just this, it is also a film that keeps you on your toes a little too much without having a complete understanding at times.
Directed by Jordan Peele, writer and director of Get Out (2017) and Us (2019), NOPE was set to be the big sci-fi thriller of 2022. Whilst I did enjoy the film, having watched it over a week ago, I am still frustrated by the ending, which left too many questions that failed to tie this film together.
In case you have not seen the trailer, NOPE is a film about two siblings who run a horse ranch in California. They discover something sinister in the sky after their dad suffers an accident, after a coin hits him from above. This sinister ‘thing’ becomes more prominent in the second half of the film as the siblings try to uncover what it is, whilst an owner of a theme park keeps profiting from this unearthly ‘thing.’ With the help of a film producer and security camera store owner, the two siblings work together to try to stop this mysterious ‘thing’ from doing something deadly.
NOPE seemed to set itself up as a horror film, but failed to reach the thrilling tropes that captivate us in a truly cinematic horror. Whilst NOPE captures the cinematography with action and suspense, at times it felt slow and uneventful, particularly for the first half of the film. It took a while to really get into what was going on as the build up was anticlimactic and there were a lot of conversations between characters that felt pointless to the overarching plot.
Something that frustrated me the most was the backstory near the start involving a monkey (I won’t spoil it further) that seemed so fascinating and horrifying, yet Peele failed to take this further. I was left wondering how this scene connected with the ‘thing’ in the sky.
A lot was left unanswered and loose ends were not tied up neatly
What also confused me was the theme park owner, his back story and how it fitted in with the ‘thing’; it seemed rather pointless at the end when nothing developed from it. The ending leaves too many questions; I left the cinema more confused than at the start. Too much was left unanswered and loose ends were not tied up neatly.
For a film that is 2 hours 15 minutes in length, I would have expected a lot more action and backstory to be fit in the plot, but this was sadly not the case. Both my partner and I felt ourselves getting restless at times in the cinema when not much action was happening.
In terms of the acting, I couldn’t fault this at all
In terms of the acting, I couldn’t fault this at all. OJ (Daniel Kaluuya) was both mundanely serious and heroically brotherly; Kaluuya captures the curiosity and fear of OJ perfectly. Emerald (Keke Palmer), OJ’s sister, was my favourite character by far with her determination and attitude. The film itself does not boast a large array of characters, which makes it by far one of the most intimate films focusing on a minor group of people; it makes the ‘thing’ in the sky the focal point rather than the relationships between characters.
Verdict:
Overall, while I would recommend this film as something completely unique and enjoyable for its suspense, it lacks a well-formed plot. It leaves you feeling confused and wanting more – and not in a good way.
Rating: 3/5
NOPE is out now in cinemas
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