'Nope' movie review: Jordan Peele's latest is a terrifying, spectacular masterpiece

It still boggles one's mind that Jordan Peele, he of the Key & Peele sketches, would go on to direct one of the most meaningful genre films of the last decade ('Get Out'), but here we are. At the same time, he popularised the social thriller genre, in which traditional thriller elements are used to deliver a message like, say, casual racism in 'Get Out'. Unlike many pretenders that have arrived on the scene, the social message in Peele's films does not overwhelm the stakes of the story. After following up with 'Us', a slightly weaker but still philosophically dense and interesting film, he is back with 'Nope'.

If the promos and the trailers led one to believe this was going to be another mind-numbing experience... well, one would not be far off. But the film is also much simpler and straightforward than what one would expect from promotional material.

Otis Haywood Jr (Daniel Kaluuya) inherited a ranch from his father Otis Haywood Sr, who died in a strange incident in which a coin dropped from the sky and entered his brain through hisright eye. The police said it probably dropped from a plane, Otis Jr had his doubts. Now he worksas a horse trainer in Hollywood, an industry where nearly everything save for human characters (and even them in a few cases)is being replaced by their CGI equivalents. When his younger sister Emerald (Keke Palmer) leaves for bigger things in Hollywood, he is left alone. There is not much money at the ranch and for a place that is known for horses, not many of them either.

Once when Emerald comes back to the ranch, the siblings become aware of a presence in the sky, a saucer-shaped thing they think of as a UFO. It frightens the horses and the humans, but the Haywoods see money in it -- if they manage to capture a video whose authenticity can be verified, they will be much better off financially. There are numerous sites and blogs that will pay good money for something like that.

But before their attempts can come to fruition when they discover a horrifying truth about the extraterrestrial presence hovering over the sky. Now, their attention is less on the hypothetical money and more on the very real danger to their lives.

'Nope' can often be ponderous and there are sections that feel clumsily paced. But with this film, Peele has once again crafted an original film brimming with fascinating ideas. There are plenty of nods to the classic science-fiction horror fare, HP Lovecraft, and even biblical myths, but 'Nope' is not at all a homage. It is very much its own thing. The film and the entity at its centre spoke something to this scribe's psyche. Those with sufficiently heightened imagination know that the sky is terrifying. Even hundreds of years after the beginning of the scientific revolution, we have barely ventured out of our solar system, and we only guess as to what happens in the vast emptiness of the universe. And Peele, when he was writing 'Nope', certainly had that on his mind.

The performances, particularly by Kaluuya and Palmer, are pretty excellent and help sell the weirdest elements in the film. Kaluuya is reliably grim and solid in the role, but Palmer is the big surprise of the film, channeling a vivacious, entrepreneurial young girl that is her character with ease. Michael Abels' music and sound effects go a long way in creating an aura of otherworldliness around the sky object.

There are interesting juxtapositions between stunning vistas and truly repelling imagery. This is not new to Peele, and this is sort of his style as we have seen in the last two films But here, the gap between the two extremes is considerably heightened. This is the most visually sound Peele has been, and for that, we can thank Dutch cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema, otherwise known for his collaborations with Christopher Nolan on films like 'Interstellar', 'Dunkirk', and 'Tenet'. With 'Nope' he has created a visual language that is quite distinct and unique. This movie must be watched on the biggest screen you can find.

'Nope' is an exhilarating experience that should not be missed by sci-fi or horror fans.