Nope

For viewers who are aware of Peele’s filmmaking talent and screenwriting limitations, Nope is exactly the kind of nonsense indicated by the trailer. As a director, he can grippingly shoot practically any scene. But when those scenes only hint at something for a hundred minutes, and some of them (the Asian and the chimpanzee) have no meaningful relevance to the already thin story, it’s merely pretentious bullshitting. Peele’s unusual mixing of genre motifs (in this case, sci-fi horror and westerns) can come across as bold and original, but in a film that is supposed to be scary while balancing on the edge of parody, the creative vision gets lost. In terms of execution, Nope is somewhere between Get Out, which was based on a brilliant idea, and Us, which was ridiculous bullshit. (2022-08-28)

After the overly pretentious Us, where social critique and metaphor overwhelmed the functioning of the film as a whole, with Nope Jordan Peele returns to a simple idea set in a functional genre piece, as he did with Get Out. And it has exactly that Spielberg charm of wonder at the supernatural element, touches of well-measured comedy, moments of chilling horror and, most importantly, adventure. There hasn't been a film this epically adventurous, with the feeling that you're experiencing an exclusive adventure together with the characters, for a long time. Thumbs up! Is Jordan Peele the cinematic genius and horror wizard the American media and critics in particular would have us believe? Not at all. But is he an interesting and capable filmmaker whose work is worth watching? That’s for sure. (2022-09-10)

An amazing atmosphere and so many original ideas... I'm glad that they still make (and get into cinemas) films like this that are probably impossible to fully understand at first, but which have such charm that you want to watch them again and only fully understand them afterwards. Original plot, realistic story, great (and well acted) characters, a sense of constant mystery… It's not horror, because then Close Encounters of the Third Kind, which Peele combines with Jaws, Signs and more, would have to be horror. I haven't seen a more original design of an alien "something" since Arrival, a number of scenes are without exaggeration unforgettable and I look forward to seeing them again. I think Nope is in many ways on par with Christopher Nolan's films, and if Nolan or Dennis Villeneuve had made it instead of Peele, the ratings here would be quite different. (2022-09-03)

Excellent in terms of Peele's creative limits, and in terms of the current creative limits of the contemporary mainstream it’s one of the films of the year. Anyway, who am I kidding, the movie itself is divine. If, like me, you're lucky enough to have seen the film as a complete "tabula rasa", you're in for a magical hour and a half of gradually unraveling mysteries in Hollywood Hills, during which various scripted red herrings and plot contrivances scramble around you, hilariously referencing the magical idiocy of 1990s American TV that Tarantino, for example, was so fond of talking about. After all, after his last film, I think Peele is much closer to him than to the oft-cited Hitchcock. It works as a genre piece, but with even a minimum of knowledge of American pop culture it starts to become apparent how insanely great the whole film is. The charm of big horse eyes, Harambe, the haunted aura of Hollywood ranches, cameramen measuring guns, Wincott pulled out of somewhere by his collar, a soundtrack that steals from both Morricone and Badalamenti, and a cloud that doesn't move for six months without anyone noticing. And Hoytema behind the camera. Yep. (2022-08-22)

OK, so this sci-fi horror movie has a nice, solid atmosphere, carefully building tension. The monster is only hinted at most of the time, it is only revealed at the end and the artwork on it is pretty good. The high-quality, but not well-known actors are a joy to watch. The flashbacks affording glimpses into the past, leading back to one similar incident, were carefully rationed, appearing at just the right times, giving away only what was absolutely essential. So the viewer is clear about what happened back then, and is just left wondering how much will be revealed in the next flashback. I give a big plus point for the fact that there is no love interest in the film. _____ However, I was annoyed by the music, as well as the hero's whiny, selfish sister, and I got a bit bored at times during some of the waiting. IN A NUTSHELL: Sentence: "He must be watching us from the cloud...," may have a completely different meaning than you think. (2023-02-23)