Culture Crash: Saying Yes to Jordan Peele’s “Nope”

In 2017, Jordan Peele shocked the world when he seamlessly transitioned from sketch comic to bona fide superstar director with his debut film Get Out, a horror comedy social satire that took on race in a post-Obama America. The film took the culture by storm, secured Oscar nominations and launched Daniel Kaluuya into the stratosphere of worldwide superstars.

Peele followed Get Out up with Us in 2019, which was also well reviewed and featured a lights-out performance from Lupita Nyong’o. Now, Peele is back with his third feature, the vaguely titled Nope. The movie’s marketing is intentionally scarce on details, but it’s safe to say it’s an old fashioned Spielberg-esque movie with plenty of terror, comedy and divine wonder. Kaluuya is back in the lead of a Peele movie, giving a very sparse and quiet performance which works like magic against co-star Keke Palmer’s performance as his character’s sister. Palmer is moving a mile a minute with energy to spare.

Peele’s trick on Nope is that he perfectly mixes thrilling summer blockbuster entertainment with social critique. In discussing the film, it seems many viewers are focused on What It All Means and for sure there is a lot there about the attention economy, Hollywood priorities and how we are a society treat animals and each other. But it’s also a beautiful movie with crisp cinematography, an original concept, and a big budget to thrill audiences.

This is exactly the kind of non-IP saturated original film that I have been desperate for during the era of the expanded universe. Peele has proven himself to be an elite filmmaker of our time, and his latest thrill ride Nope is worth seeing in theaters. In fact, it’s probably worth seeing multiple times in theaters. It’s just that engaging.