NOPE

Jordan Peele is a talented Director. He consistently makes interesting movies. Nope is interesting, but easily my least favorite of his three films. Generally I think he is on a downward trajectory. 

Nope seems to be trying to make a statement about humanity’s obsession with spectacle. At the same time the movie itself makes a spectacle. It has a commentary on how the entertainment industry chews people up and spits them out. There are interesting ideas in there, but I found them cumbersomely explored. 

Nope is not a bad movie. It was enjoyable to watch, but left me wanting a lot more. There are plenty of things that Peele introduces for us to consider. But I felt like I didn’t get it. I decided to read some reviews and it is clear I am not the only one who wasn’t tracking with the message of the movie. 

I cannot recommend this movie. However, I think there is plenty for people to enjoy. It just falls short for what I wanted & expected. 

Time for spoilers…

We start the movie with a scene of Gordy, which is potentially the most interesting element of the movie for me. Gordy is a chimp who stars in a sitcom. One day he loses it and bashes the heads of his co-stars. Gordy was exploited for the entertainment of humans… much like the child star that survives the melee. 

Those are some of the first images of the film and set the stage for what we see in the rest of the movie, which is about a UFO terrorizing a horse farm. There were some nice homages to classic alien movie sequences. I quite liked the guy from Fry’s, but overall it didn’t engage me. 

Early on when we were at the horse ranch I just wanted to get back to the tv set with the crazy chimpanzee. When I realized how the separate stories tied together I was let down. The Ricky Park character was interesting, but we didn’t get to spend enough time with him. I wanted to know more of how he went from child star to shitty cowboy park owner. I believe we are to understand that Ricky fed horses to the ufo creature? Did people watch this happen and survive in the past? I was a little confused by this. Was Ricky more aware of the creature’s true nature? 

I guess that is the biggest spoiler of the movie. We are led to believe that this is a UFO movie about aliens. It is actually a creature movie about some flying beast that is just trying to survive. We don’t know much of anything about it. It east stuff and then regurgitates a lot of it back up… or down. 

I didn’t find the movie all that exciting, but I was looking forward to what happened at the end. I wanted to see how this showdown was going to go. I even liked the addition of the cinematographer with the crank camera. That was all building to something that I was looking forward to. Then I ended up hating nearly everything about the end. The culmination of everything was a massive let-down. Again… I don’t think it was bad… it just wasn’t interesting. 

I feel like I could sit through Nope again and it might hit me different. I might find more to latch onto. I am almost sure I would like it better the second time around. However, I am just not sure it would be worth dedicating the time to.

The Menu

I heard The Menu was good via my favorite film podcast. I saw it was available on HBO Max so I made sure to not read or listen to anything else about it so I could go in unsullied. I am really glad I did. I really enjoyed it, and not having any clue what was happening really added to the experience. 

As the story unfolds it took me a little bit to get my bearings about what was going on. As the audience we follow a specific couple. I had a really difficult time figuring out the nature of their relationship. I also didn’t understand the man’s role in the dinner party until the true intent of the chef started to be revealed. 

The first part of the movie was confusing, but I liked that experience. It was great. It set the stage for this grand show, but the second half didn’t deliver. There were several things that came from a much more conventional film. I was waiting for something more profound and meaningful, but it let me down. 

This movie is about a chef making food, but more generally it is about an artist creating art. Once art is put out into the world the artist has no control over how it is received. It will be misunderstood and criticized. It will be loved and appreciated for the wrong reasons, by people the artist doesn’t like or respect. Usually the artist has little recourse. They become tortured. They may change their art in constant response to the dialog from fans and critics. This movie is about an artist who is tired of the narrative. He doesn’t want to play this game anymore. He wants to take back control of his legacy, for better or worse. 

I really liked the ideas that were set up. I was just really underwhelmed by how it all got resolved. Still, this is a movie worth watching. For me it might even be worth watching a 2nd time. The movie will hit different once you understand what is going on. I want to experience the first half again and see if I still appreciate it as much as I did the first time around. 

I recommend The Menu. If you have HBO Max it is a solid psychological thriller that will keep you guessing. 

** Spoilers **

There were several plot elements down the stretch that didn’t seem to match with what I thought the movie was trying to do. 

I didn’t like the sequence where he made the men run away, only to immediately catch them. I guess this was to give them a glimmer of hope, much like the coast guard guy showing up. He wanted to watch the guests get that sparkle in their eye thinking there was a chance to get out of this, just to see it die again. 

I also didn’t like the fight between the girls. That was like a scene from an action movie. 

These things weren’t terrible… they just didn’t fit with what I thought the rest of the movie was doing. They weren’t as narratively interesting as I thought this movie was going to be able to achieve. 

Those things were minor compared to my biggest complaint with the ending. I hated the way the girl gets to escape. It was so simplistic and surface-level. She saw a picture from when he worked at a burger place… so she asked for a burger so he would realize his love for cooking once again. It was all so… lame.

I don’t know what I wanted to happen, but I wanted it to be more interesting. I wanted it to carry more weight and have more meaning. 

The Menu wasn’t as satisfying or deep as I wanted, but it was still a good flick that is definitely worth a watch.