97. Nope

 

I'm not big into my aliens anymore. If you'd seen me 15 years ago with my Doctor Who paraphernalia and random astronomy facts, you'd find that hard to believe. But Tennant turned to Smith only a few years later, I started studying for GCSEs and aliens just seemed no longer as interesting.

I had a friend, well he was more than that for a time, but he was present in my life for a little while and we would talk about anything and everything all night long. It was cute, being 17 and having someone to talk about the possibility of aliens with at 3am. That was the last time I was really intrigued by life beyond the stars. 

So since then, I've watched a handful of space themed movies. Mostly disaster films, nothing too alien. I've dabbled in DW a little, rewatched a few favourites, but never in a million years did I actively see myself  going to watch something like Nope. Not by choice.

But in 2022 (this is how old this post is, it has been sitting in my drafts) it was a choice I made. I was bored, I'd seen everything else at the cinema and I thought 'hey, why not?' I love a horror movie and from the trailer it seemed more horror than outlandish sci-fi so I gave it a go. I can still hear the scream of that horse all this time later.

Now there were two interlocking storylines to Nope. Well sort of. We find ourselves jumping between current events and a Chimp rampaging on a sitcom set. These two things are related only by a man called Jupe played by Steven Yeun, who isn't even in the film that long, but he is a dangerous man. Due to trauma caused by being the only one spared as a child by that chimp, he has gone on to marvel at the macabre and decides to make a tourist attraction out of the 'UFO' which visits. Only it isn't a spaceship, it's a MF massive creature which hoovers up the horse laid out as a sacrifice as well as the entire theme park of people and crushes them to death (eats them or whatever, I'm not even sure).

Now this thing, named Jean Jacket after a difficult horse which one of the characters was promised to train, attacks when people look at it. It seems to feel threatened or perhaps this is how it marks its prey, but regardless the theme here is to avoid looking at the saucer/jellyfish looking thing that swoops down from the sky. Em and OJ decide they are going to take this thing down while also proving it exists and then work dangerously to do just that for the rest of the movie.

I left the cinema having no idea what I had just witnessed. There was a killer chimp, murdered horses, a woman with no face, one of them squiggly air men things from car washes that look like cheesestrings, a balloon, an obsession with the money shot, and a shit load of screaming. What I did know was that I was traumatised. Not Banshees of Inisherin traumatised, but close. I remember all these fragments but I'm no longer sure how they all fitted together. There was a lot of adrenaline, and a rush. Then silence.

Yeah, I don't think I'll be watching this film again for a long, long time. Or at all. Either works for me. 

Now Jordan Peele is really clever, and this film was really clever, just bizarre. The acting was top tier, the gore, the jumpscares, and the cinematography was all amazing. Just this plot was a hell of a ride. I wanted to Nope right out of that cinema. I'm Nopeing right now at the thought of the film and it has been 2 YEARS. Mr. Peele knows how to mess you up and keep ya thinking.

Would I recommend this movie? I'm not sure. I'm in two minds. I want everyone to see it so we can collectively look at each other and be like 'WTF?' but at the same time I want to save everyone I know the trouble of being scarred for life and hearing horses scream as they get crushed to death. I have known, ridden, been around horses my entire life. They aren't my favourite animals and I think they are a little overrated but that's because a lot of horses I've known have also been arseholes. But I still don't think they should die on screen as much as they do, and not like in Nope. I'm aware horses are a big plot driver in this movie due to the relevance of the first moving picture. The representation and legacy of that gentleman deserve to be highlighted as a person of colour. But I'd argue we didn't need to be so graphic, especially when it comes to animal deaths in horror movies.

So I'm gunna give Nope a 7/10. This was a weird movie, the weirdest movie of the whole of 2022 in my book, and I watched Hatching. But I'm still torn. I don't dislike the movie, it was really good, and I was on the edge of my seat and afraid for some of it. But I'm still in that wtf mindset, I dont know if it was believable and terrifying because of it, or so out there that I should laugh. All I know is this film leaves a lot to think about.

Have you seen Nope? Share your WTF with me on my socials! Let's collectively be confused and horrified at the same time.