There was rightly a lot of hype surrounding Nope, Jordan Peele’s new movie. After the success of Get Out and Us, critics and fans alike were eager to see what Peele would do next. And as should come as a surprise to no one, rather than giving the public more of the same, the director took a left-turn and gave us a movie unlike anything we would have expected — but which we have most definitely seen before, in various other guises.

So was Peele’s gamble a success? Should you spend your time, energy, and money to watch this movie? Let’s take a look.

The Plot

Nope follows the trial and tribulations of two ranch owners, siblings, who are facing a run of bad business luck. The business? Providing horses for use in Hollywood movies. They’re already having money troubles when a new threat from the skies plunges them even further into distress. It’s hard to run a profitable horse business when UFOs are abducting your horses.

‘Wait, did you say UFOs?’ Yes, we said UFOs. They’ve been sucking up horses left, right, and center, and rather than just accepting this as another mild inconvenience in the life of a business owner, they decide to capture the UFO on camera. It’s much easier to defeat a UFO when other people aren’t questioning your sanity/vision/and so on and so on.

It turns out that this isn’t your usual UFO in the sky, however. It’s a lot more menacing than that. Let’s just say that there are a fair few disappearances and other problems that come the family’s way. Indeed, the matter of providing horses for Hollywood begins to feel like small potatoes.

A Homage to The Classics?

You don’t need to be a sci-fi movie buff to enjoy Nope. This is a movie for everyone, and that’s what makes it such a great movie for cozy nights at home. However, if you do have a broad knowledge of sci-fi and literature, then you’ll certainly pick up on the clear links between Peele’s movie and the classics of the genre.

For instance, it’s hard not to notice a clear connection to The Blob. In that movie, the ‘Blob’ is actually an alien life force which destroys everything that it comes into contact with. In Nope, the UFO is an alien life force that you can’t look directly in the eye; otherwise, you’ll die. It’s the same concept in a different disguise — as soon as the alien has a grip on one of your senses (touch; sight), you’re toast.

It’s clear that Peele was also heavily influenced by other movies, too, such as Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Jaws, and The Happening. In fact, if you went through with a fine-toothed comb, you’d probably pick up a reference in every other scene.

This isn’t a criticism, however. After all, Peele is just paying homage to the movies that came before his. Nope is very much a unique movie that stands on its own just fine. Indeed, in the years to come, we may just include it on a list of movies that helped to push the sci-fi genre forward, much as The Blob did.

Broader Message

Jordan Peele has made a name for himself by including much-needed social commentary in his movies. This was abundantly clear in Get Out and Us. Is there more of the same in Nope? There’s definitely commentary present, but it’s less obvious. You have to dig it out — and even then, it might not be totally correct. Take a read of the professional reviews of the movie, and you’ll see that virtually every critic has their own interpretation. Certainly, there’s a message about the public’s willingness to look away and how defeating an enemy may come down to staring it down. But it’s best to watch it for yourself and come up with your own conclusion.

General Consensus: Worth a Watch

So what’s the takeaway here? The critics and the public generally liked Nope, and we did too. It probably doesn’t quite live up to the extremely high standards of Get Out and Us, but that doesn’t make it a bad movie. Most movies don’t live up to Get Out and Us!

In all, this is a fun, inventive, and enjoyable movie that’ll keep your attention for its duration and very probably for some days after that. Peele has earned his reputation as a great filmmaker, and this is simply another quality demonstration of the man’s many talents.