Nope

‘Nope’ review: Jordan Peele hoists his brand of horror to the troposphere

What begins as a lacklustre and uninspired depiction of the extra-terrestrial becomes, in the film’s final moments, one of the most mesmerising alien encounters in cinema.

Overall, Nope is an entertaining and thrilling watch. The film is replete with thoughtful artistic choices that we’ve come to expect from Peele. Expansive, tableauesque scenes of rural California are juxtaposed with claustrophobic moments within the alien abdomen. An airy, string-driven soundtrack is interposed with the haunting whispering of the wind and the neighing of terrified horses. The medium of film is itself examined and confronted and there is plenty to ponder about as the credits roll. Read full review…

Nope review – A busy, brainy blockbuster

Director Jordan Peele’s slow-burning third feature is wholly original, totally bizarre and undeniably entertaining, though audiences left unmoved by the filmmaker’s previous subtext-heavy movies will likely walk away from Nope frustrated by its ambiguity. Keke Palmer, for her part, is a revelation, and Daniel Kaluuya delivers spades of understated emotion in this high-concept horror that lacks a killer blow. Read full review…

Nope review: Jordan Peele’s third film is funny, weird as hell and thrillingly original

Nope is a film that, on top of everything, celebrates the skill of great craftspeople – not only on screen, with the Haywoods, but with the breathless beauty of cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema’s work (the film was shot for Imax), and a soundscape, overseen by Johnnie Burn, that draws equal power from silence as it does chaos. You could, certainly, make the argument that Nope is the most straightforward of Peele’s films so far. He’s traded the claustrophobic, labyrinthine quality of Get Out and Us for open skies and pure spectacle. But the genius of his work is that, in the end, none of that really makes any difference. He still gets the same results. Peele, really, is the magician disguised as a filmmaker. Nope is the sleight of hand so slick you’ll never question how the trick was pulled off. Read full review…

Nope movie review: A remarkable addition to Jordan Peele’s genre

The conceit of Nope is that, even if your life depended on it, can you look away from a spectacle? What makes a spectacle a spectacle? And what happens to those who are turned into spectacles? Plus, the layers of alienation that define where we end up.

s Peele entirely successful? Nope. Especially as the writer-director-producer drags the ending to an unnecessary length. But would you look away from the thing that is haunting the Haywoods, now changing shape, now beautiful, now horrific, now cruel, now curious? Nope. Read full review…

Nope: A riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma

Nope has a stillness and mercurial compulsiveness that elevates it way above an extended episode of The Twilight Zone. Peele’s macabre humour is on show again but there is not a lot to scare the horses. It’s a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma, but it never quite unlocks its own internal logic. As summer blockbusters go, that’s more than enough. Read full review…

Nope review – Jordan Peele’s brilliantly horrifying ride to nowhere

The director’s elliptical follow-up to Us stars Daniel Kaluuya as a California wrangler defending the family ranch from a deadly threat from above. Read full review…