Loading ...
Dawn and I watched Jordan Peele’s most recent film offering a couple weeks ago, and we liked it. I could therefore have just titled this “yup” and left it at that. A true “What Would Frank Do?” moment.
But I’m honestly just not the laconic sort, and the movie is… controversial? It’s not a particularly “political” film from my perspective, beyond the fact that the main characters are black, and Jordan Peele is black, and so sometimes that colors (pardon the pun) their interactions with Hollywood, historically and otherwise. So I don’t think the 1-star reviews are necessarily just the result of a loud and disgruntled segment of the audience reacting to that… it’s not the main story, though Peele himself has come out in interviews to say part of the underlying message is about how the film industry can chew you up and spit you out, regardless of gender, creed or skin tone.
Whether or not that message connects and how skillfully (or not) it might be conveyed is probably the main bone of contention, though honestly there’s enough care and thoughtfulness involved I’m not sure it deserves 1-star. Does it deserve 5-star? My jury’s out on that as well, but we live in an age where critical nuance doesn’t bring in the clicks. Love it, hate it, or get out of the way.
But look, let’s get past the meta. This movie has a ranch, and horses, and cowpokes, and media interference, and a hefty dose of weird. The subject matter alone predisposes your humble proprietors to give it opportunity. In addition to the Hollywood connection it’s also Peele’s self-admitted love letter to Jaws and y’all should know my feelings on Jaws by now (if you’re new here: it’s my favorite movie of all time). Peele flips the script and turns the murky ocean into a cloudy sky but the DNA is definitely there. One complaint I’ve seen about Nope is that a movie shouldn’t remind people of another, better movie, but for me that “honor” belongs to Jaws: The Revenge and its flashback sequences literally featuring footage from the original of its franchise. Also, the original Jaws is a high water mark (heh) so if you’re not as good as Jaws, that hardly makes you bad, and there’s enough spin on this tale and craftsmanship that I don’t have the problem of “why does this exist?” in terms of repeating something already done. No stories are really new, right? It’s all about the arrangements.
With that said, I’m not going to guarantee you will love it, but I do think the folks who read this comic might find it at least an interesting watch. Maybe even a second watch once all the cards are on the table? It’s a film to keep an eye on, even if within its confines the best strategy (in the short run) turns out to be to look away. And I do wonder how it will fare in five or ten years… is it too close to other films of its genre to be worthy of its own niche? Is the storytelling too disjointed or are the characters too sketchy to really paint a compelling picture or make us care? Or could this be a case of a diamond in the rough, getting a mixed reception at release but showing long-term merit? That’s impossible to determine right now, of course, but it’s happened before. Sometimes you just gotta wait for all the 5-star and 1-star dust to settle and then see what’s left standing.