First of all, it ain’t scary -- 4 out of 10 on the level of horror -- instead, the film slowly constructs an unsettling mood with wide panel shots of the sky and gradual exposition, luring the audience into uncertainty. With the almost cthulhu setup, Nope narrates the blindful pursuit of men behind a rather primal and simple spectacle, a “bad miracle” incomprehensible to what most rationalizes or covets.
Specifically, Steven Yeun’s character fully demonstrates how preconceived obsession could lead to self-destruction, although the section was mainly irrelevant to the major plot. After an hour of allegorical buildout, the movie concludes in a quite cliche and even below-expectation final battle: unexplained sibling collaboration, illogical character motivations, and arguably offbeat ending.
Throughout the film, I see lots of dangling threads, including implicit racism, animal references, and directory philosophy, but none of them are elaborated clearly. Great cinematography and management of atmosphere, however, pretty disappointing considering Jordan Peele’ previous oeuvre.