Nope: Don’t Look Up

Nope, Jordan Peele’s latest horror film (now available on demand), centers around the Haywoods, a family of Hollywood animal trainers who have a rural ranch outside of the city.  When their father dies from mysterious debris falling from the sky, his children must try to keep the business going.  Six months later, Otis Junior (Daniel Kaluuya), OJ for short, and his sister Emerald (Keke Palmer), experience unexplained power fluctuations and see something strange making them believe that they have been visited by a UFO.  The duo believe that this is their chance to climb out of their financial woes by getting the first real evidence of an alien.  With the help of a Fry’s Electronics installer named Angel (Brandon Perea) and cinematographer Antlers Hoist (Michael Wincott), the team set a trap to try to draw the UFO out into the open to be filmed. Will they all survive? Will they get their photo? Tune in to find out!

The movie has some strong performances, Keke Palmer as Emerald (Em) is energetic and exuberant, with a type of manic energy, which can be a little overwhelming both to her brother and to the audience.  Brandon Perea also does a great job as Fry’s salesman and installer who gets involved in the sibling’s quest for a photo.  He almost acts as a conscience, reminding the team that what they are doing isn’t just for monetary gain but could help save lives.  Michael Wincott’s character talks in a kind of cryptic poetry which is both vague and bit disturbing to the others.  His deep rich voice adds to weight of his words and adds to their mystery.  Steven Yeun, plays Jupe, a former child star who was traumatized by an animal attack on the set of a sitcom he stared in, and now, as an adult, uses that event for financial gain.  Daniel Kaluuya, plays OJ as the strong stoic hero who doesn’t really know how to express his feelings through words. He does an adequate job in using body language to convey some emotion, but in reality, his performance felt a bit bland and underwhelming.

In fact, the entire movie felt bland to me.  Maybe it had more “oomph!” on the big screen, but watching it on my television, it just felt like nothing really happens until the end of the film.  The themes Peele was attempting to explore, never fully got realized for me.  Mainly, the exploitation of tragedy for money and societies addiction to spectacle above all cost, although prominent in the plot, get overshadowed by the lack luster storytelling.  I did enjoy the visual effects and the creature design and the way the plot twisted slightly to give us something different than just a flying saucer.  Although there is nothing really bad about the film, it just didn’t grab me and I honestly was just bored.