By: Kaylen Fuentez

*Warning, contains small spoilers*

The film ‘Nope’ directed, written and produced by Jordan Peele, came out in theaters the 22nd of July, 2022. Its running time is 130 minutes and it is the 3rd horror film Peele has directed in the past 5 years.

Within the past 5 years, Jordan Peele has created his own signature style with the movies ‘Us’, ‘Get out’, and now ‘Nope’. But what is different with ‘Nope’ is that it takes some unpacking to understand the symbolism of this film. This is a movie you may need to watch 1 or 2 times to fully understand the meaning behind this story.

At first glance, ‘Nope’ is viewed as a sci-fi movie. And although it does have themes of sci-fi and is seemingly not as scary as Peele’s other films, it is definitely dark.

The most intriguing (yet terrifying) scene was Gordy’s birthday party. During the opening scene of ‘Nope’ it had you thinking, what does this have to do with a movie about UFOs? But the foreshadowing of Gordy’s character had me on the edge of my seat the entire time. The unfolding of Gordy’s entire storyline was done perfectly.

One thing about Peele’s work is the symbols represented come to life in insane ways, which may be confusing, and quite a ride, but in the end it makes sense, and is revealed to be great.

Another thing I found interesting was the themes of fame. Towards the end of the movie, OJ, Em, Angel, and the director all made a plan to capture the UFO on camera. That scene showed how far people will really go for fame; for example there was a guy on a motorcycle who heard they were doing this and worked for TMZ. He was willing to go all the way out to where OJ and Em were staying to capture something on camera that would make him rich and famous.

Another example is that the whole movie Em was the one who was pushing OJ to get the cameras to film the UFO because she wanted the money and fame so badly, but in the end she realizes that family always has been and always will be more important.

I’ve seen many controversial opinions regarding ‘Nope’, but in my opinion it was smart of Peele to not stick to his particular style. I think it may have given other directors and filmmakers the push they needed to think outside the box when it comes to the sci-fi genre. In the future, I hope to see more sci-fi films like ‘Nope’ and am excited to see what Peele brings to the table next.

I rate this movie 4 out of 5 stars. You can still see ‘Nope’ in theaters, and it is now streaming on multiple platforms.