Nope

After the death of his father, OJ (Daniel Kaluuya) must now run the Hollywood movie horse farm that has been in his family for decades. He can expect little help from his sister Em (Keke Palmer) on their remote Haywood Ranch in California. That changes when the siblings observe mysterious phenomena on their land and suspect it must be a UFO. Together, they want to be the first to take truly believable pictures of an alien spacecraft and equip their farm with surveillance footage accordingly. But what is really hovering in the sky above them, OJ and Em can not imagine in their worst nightmares...

Following his acclaimed films "Get Out" and "Us", director Jordan Peele puts the finishing touches on his latest film with "Nope"now presents another mystery thriller, in which he skillfully mixes different motifs into a surprising, captivating and always humorous whole. Supported by a fascinating visual language, Peele establishes a very special atmosphere that saves his film even over its somewhat tough moments. At over two hours, the whole thing is a bit too long and there are some moments where the scissors could have been applied. In addition, there is a plot element about which not too much should be revealed at this point, but which somehow doesn't really fit in with the actual story. This is really great staged and is undoubtedly one of the most disturbing moments of the whole film. But at least to me it has only in the approach opened, what this scene split into several parts and distributed over the film should have to do with the events around OJ and Em.

It may be that this impression will change when I have watched the film again (which I will definitely do), but for now, in my eyes, some parts of the film just do not really fit together. Still, the overall conclusion is absolutely positive: you can clearly tell "Nope" which films and directors have influenced Jordan Peele. Nevertheless, the whole thing doesn't come across as a simple copy or homage, but rather as a completely original version of already known motifs, enriched with his own ideas and original twists. In times when cinema is dominated by remakes, sequels or reboots, it's just good to finally see a completely independent story inspired by some very big classics of fantastic cinema and their creators like Steven Spielberg.

Actorically, "Nope" can also convince. I admit that I found the character of Em especially in the first half with her loud, chaotic and very ego-centered nature arguably exhausting. But Keke Palmer plays this character really convincingly, but is repeatedly played to the wall by her film brother Daniel Kaluuya. Alone the moment in which he gives the title-giving (and quite ambiguously to understand) "Nope" of itself, is just wonderfully played.

As already in the two predecessor films, there is also here again a little social criticism, which comes however clearly reduced and more discreetly to the use. Instead, atmosphere, suspense, a little horror and partly very funny dialogues take the helm here. This doesn't always work perfectly, but all in all very, very well. The result is a film that you should definitely see in the cinema because of its visual power and which, despite minor lengths, offers really good entertainment until the finale. For this, there is clearly a: Absolutely worth seeing!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp