I love Jordan Peele’s creative approach, and I think this film has a lot of great ideas and is perfectly entertaining. But this film’s best ideas are lessened by how overstuffed it is. Just like Us, it feels like Peele rewrote this a few too many times.
It also needs a good editor. There’s not a lot of tension to be mined because it all just takes too darn long. Entire sections of the film lack momentum and end up feeling lifeless.
I’m not a fan of Hoyte van Hoytema’s style, which I find confusing to watch. I’m never sure what he wants me to see or where he wants me to look. I don’t feel guided by his framing of the picture; as soon as his focal point leaves the centre of the frame, I get the impression he doesn’t know what to do with it. In the case of Nope, a film that is interested in engendering comparisons to films like Close Encounters of the Third Kind, all I could think about was how all the films Nope references are much better at guiding the viewer than it is. This is a shame. Jordan Peele should work with other people who are operating at his level.