Nope is the latest sci-fi/horror film from Jordan Peele after his knock-out hit of Get Out and less successful (but interesting) Us. It takes his encyclopedia of film tropes to a new frontier… sci-fi/horror with nods and winks to the pulpy 50s… but still manages to pull a rug out by the end. Things get pretty weird and abstract and made me, who maybe has seen too much, sit up and say, “Huh… I haven’t seen THAT before.”.

Nope stars Daniel Kaluuya and Keke Palmer as ranchers who start to notice some unidentified, mysterious lights and sounds in the night sky. Since their business is suffering, dollar signs are in their eyes when they see an opportunity to get this on film and maybe become a tourist attraction. But maybe the thing in the sky is a little more dangerous – and a little more weird – than they expect.

Yeah, this is Jordan Peele showing off his pulp sci-fi/horror muscles. The trailers promise us UFOs and we certainly get UFOs… but this is more of a creature feature than I expected. In fact, I’d probably compare it more to Tremors than Signs (even though I was thinking “This is Jordan Peele’s weird attempt at Signs” for the first half).

And what I dig about what the characters are really facing is that it’s abstract. Very imaginative but also pretty abstract. It takes awhile for you to register what exactly you’re looking at and it certainly plays on your expectations. The characters wind up having script-like insights which is a little unimpressive (BIG leaps of intuition) BUT it’s ok since the abstraction requires a little audience assistance at times.

There are a few extra actors stirred into this kind of overflowing pot… some of whom probably could have been cut and saved time (which would really have helped the first half of the film). Steven Yuen – who I really like as an actor – has a character with some pretty extensive flashbacks that may tie into the themes but don’t connect plot-wise. They could be cut without losing anything. These scenes left me perplexed as to what this had to do with the price of tea in China… and thinking this movie is a bit of a mess.

But what I find super charming about Jordan Peele’s mind is that the threat seems inspired by a particularly goofy 50s novelty song (which they sing in the film). I won’t say which song… but I just love that embrace of the goofy 50s pulp sci-fi thing.

I think the first half will make this a little hard to rewatch but I think there’s enough imagination and fun in the second half that makes the movie work. And I honestly haven’t seen anything quite like this before. Good job on inventing a new type of sci-fi/horror movie villain. That’s worth something.

Score: 82