Jordan Peele's third outing in the director's chair is another home run, completing his hat-trick of slam dunks (choose your own sports metaphor).
In 2017 one of the most respected names in comedy became one of the most respected names in horror with the release of Get Out. The film was nominated for several Academy Awards, winning Jordan Peele an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.
Then he followed it up with Us in 2019 which was cool too.
Now with a bigger budget and bigger scale, he returns with Nope in 2022.
The film is about brother and sister duo OJ and Em who wrangle horses for Hollywood films. OJ notices some strange movement in the sky, believing it to be extra-terrestrial, they attempt to capture it on film and get the perfect shot or "the Oprah shot".
Could be a great set-up for a cheesy 80s comedy, but Jordan Peele does what he's done twice already and take a schlocky b-movie horror idea and treat it as high art.
As always the film has something deeper to say, this time it's all about our addiction to spectacle. We love the grandiose, we always want things bigger and better, no matter what horrors may lie beneath.
Shot largely on IMAX, Nope takes the idea of spectacle and runs with it. This is the most epic in scale original film I've seen since Tenet. And the first good one in much longer.
We're used to horror being dark and claustrophobic, but Peele manages to create the same sense of dread in wide open spaces with the sun shining bright.
While there are jump scares, the best way to describe the type of horror of Nope is dread. It's Lovecraftian in nature, about how tiny little humans fit into the wider universe.
That doesn't mean the film isn't a rip-snorting good time though. Above all else this is a damn fun movie.
Much like Get Out, Nope is going to be talked about and dissected for years to come and if you don't want to look ill-informed at the water cooler, you best head along yourself.
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