Nope. Jordan Peele. 9/10.

I wrote a whole ass review on Letterboxd (https://letterboxd.com/win_jayden/film/nope/), but I did want to expand on the conversation I had after with my brother and parents. So: SPOILERS FOR NOPE (2022)!!!!!!

This film, in a lot of ways, talks about the exploitation of animals and people in the filmmaking industry. The reason the animals in the film tend to get violent is they have reached their breaking point. An animal can only take so much abuse and being out of its own comfort zone before it becomes provoked. And the alien in Nope is an animal. It was very obvious. But one of the things that I think separates this film from your average PETA commercial is the focus on spectacle. Jordan intentionally buried the lede for this film with his marketing. Giving us this spectacular campaign focused on him and the actors. None of the Gordy stuff ends up in any of the marketing material (until Peele put up the intro on his Twitter account). He is one of the only directors working today that can experiment with his filmmaking in that way.

My family had a lot to say about how people of color have been exploited since the beginning of the film. Much like the chimpanzee in Gordy’s Home. I think it was something a bit buried underneath the general idea of exploitation of animals, but it’s there. It can be surmised.

I applaud Peele for this film. He killed it as far as I’m concerned.