Nope

Für einen Zuschauer, der Peeles Filmemacher-Talent sowie seine Drehbuchlimits kennt, ist Nope genau so ein Quatsch, wie es der Trailer angekündigt hat. Der Regisseur ist in der Lage, praktisch jede Szene fesselnd zu drehen. Wenn aber in den Szenen hundert Minuten nur etwas angedeutet wird und wenn manche von ihnen für die dünne Geschichte keine sinnvolle Bedeutung haben (der Asiat und der Schimpanse), ist es nur eine Pose und man wird an der Nase herumgeführt. Peeles ungewöhnliche Kombination der Genre-Motive (hier ein Science-Fiction-Horrorfilm und ein Western) kann mutig und originell wirken. In einem Film, der einerseits grauenhaft sein möchte, andererseits an der Grenze zu einer Parodie balanciert, geht die Vision der Autoren verloren. Nope befindet sich – was die Gelungenheit betrifft – zwischen Get Out, der auf einer genialen Idee basiert, und Wir, der ein lächerlicher Unsinn war. (28.08.2022)

Nach dem übertrieben selbstgefälligen Wir, in dem Sozialkritik und Metaphern die Funktionsweise des Films als Ganzes überrollten, kehrt Jordan Peele mit Nope zu einer einfachen Idee zurück, die in ein funktionales Genre-Schauspiel eingebettet ist, wie es bei Get Out der Fall war. Und es hat genau den zauberhaften Spielberg-Bezauberungseffekt über das Übernatürliche, Elemente einer gut abgemessenen Komödie, gruselige Horrormomente und vor allem Abenteuer. Solch episch abenteuerlicher Film, der einem das Gefühl vermittelt, dieses exklusive Abenteuer gemeinsam mit den Charakteren zu erleben, gab es schon lange nicht mehr. Für mich ein Daumen nach oben! Ist Jordan Peele das Filmgenie und der Horrorzauberer, von dem uns besonders die amerikanischen Medien und Kritiker überzeugen wollen? Überhaupt nicht. Aber er ist ein interessanter und talentierter Filmemacher, dessen Werke es definitiv wert sind, verfolgt zu werden. (10.09.2022)

Best UFO movie in decade? Nope. Actually god damn YES! Jordan Peele is back and will once again divide audiences into two camps, though this time he'll get a bigger ovation than he did with the overrated Us thanks to the awesome material. Peele is a bit unconventional here, the social undertones aren’t as intense as in his previous films, there is a fair amount of humour and there are considerably fewer symbols and metaphors, yet he's made a unique and impressive genre film that again isn't as horror as it could have been, but I'm very pleased. Nope is definitely a horror film that manages to win the audience over with its strong cinematic aspects, and it looks really beautiful, especially in IMAX. The cinematography by Hoytema is a masterpiece in itself, some of the shots are breathtaking (and that's not something you see often in the horror genre), and the casting is great. Kaluuya is good, but next to Keke Palmer he seemed slightly like a shadow, because here she gives perhaps the strongest female performance in 15 years (emotions, screaming, speech, voice), an absolute acting tour-de-force from an unknown actress, whom I immediately want to see somewhere else. The music is well chosen and especially the atmosphere works fantastically, it's very uncomfortable, creepy, weird and unnerving in places. There are quite a few exciting and spectacular horror scenes that I will remember in the future (The chimp, a house covered in blood, a horse's head in a car, the digestive process of the villain and the screaming of the dead still ring in my ears). I'm perhaps only the final act away from a full score, which ironically is weaker than the previous ones (most people complain about the action-packed finale, but I wouldn't call it so, you can immediately imagine a spectacular Secret War style alien massacre and it doesn't really happen). I just wasn't sure if I liked the final scene or not, but you can't deny the creativity. Peele will definitely be making horror films in the future and I'd quite like to see a slasher or pure ghost story from him. Better than Arrival for me. Story 4/5 Humour 2/5 Violence 3/5 Fun 4/5 Music 4/5 Visuals 5/5 Atmosphere 4/5 Suspense 4/5 Emotion 4/5 Actors 5/5 Total: 8/10. (22.08.2022)

Siblings OJ and Emerald are struggling with a failing farm, their own relationship, and now with something hiding in the clouds, and as it soon turns out, it's pretty damn dangerous. Only how do you expose this thing, which is good at hiding and doesn't like to let witnesses in, to the world? And how to survive it? Jordan Peele delivers a science fiction film that doesn't quite work in the first half, and he as a director doesn't quite manage to build the tension as well as he might have liked. But he makes up for it all with the final act, when the humans and the mysterious something from the clouds have a fair fight. The closer we get to the end, the smarter and more entertaining Nope gets. And it looks really beautiful. But Peele still can't do real fear and terror. (17.08.2022)

For two thirds the film is a compelling, engrossing and carefully constructed horror-thriller mystery that kept me engaged as the characters struggled to get to the bottom of the mystery. This part of Nope, which I was very pleased with, culminated in a magnificent night scene with "blood rain" that made me glow with bliss and consider awarding five star to a horror flick for the first time in a long time. But, as you can see, I didn’t go further than three. Because the film then turns into an action charade, where you don't care about the characters and just try to catch the design of the weird contraption and figure out if you like it or not. And what shocked me above all is that it doesn't actually come to anything. After his previous two films, you'd expect Jordan Peele to be ... smarter than that? Us may have been logically leaky, but I found its social references were very stimulating (and that goes twofold  for Get Out). There's nothing like that in Nope, or I don't see it there at first. Many people, often dismissively, refer to Peele as the king of "elevated horror", but this is, in the end, more or less an ordinary genre film. In the space of half an hour, the film shoots two or three banal ideas (what people are willing to risk for fame and success / the fascination with tragedy / the stupid notion that man can tame everything), which it then repeats to the point of foolishness, but doesn't take them anywhere. I don't want to sound overly critical, Nope is definitely nice to look at, it has a number of impressive scenes and it's certainly a good film to see in the cinema, but after the excellent first two acts I can't help feeling disappointed at the end. (17.08.2022)