The early Nope reactions are in, and so far they enthusiastically praise the film. Nope is the third feature from rising horror director Jordan Peele. Peele previously directed the popular and highly-acclaimed Get Out and Us. Nope stars Get Out’s Daniel Kaluuya along with Keke Palmer, Steven Yeun, Michael Wincott, Brandon Perea, and Barbie Ferreira. The plot focuses on two siblings, played by Kaluuya and Palmer, who attempt to prove the existence of alien activity in their California gulch town.
After the success of Get Out and Us, it is understandable that Nope has received a great deal of hype in the months leading up to its release. For a while, the Nope marketing team kept most of the film’s content under wraps. This meant that Nope was ripe for theories based on the trailers, with fans speculating as to what exactly the suspicious activity occurring in the town was. After the revelation that the mysterious forces in Nope were in fact a result of alien activity, Peele later revealed Nope’s central themes. According to the director, Nope is about the relationship between a brother and a sister at its core, and more thematically, the film will focus on “the nature of spectacle” and “the insidious nature of attention.” Peele’s thematic foci further promised big things for Nope.
After its premiere in Los Angeles, the initial reactions to Nope are in, and they suggest that the film lives up to and exceeds the hype that the film has received. Viewers have described it as Peele’s work as his “most ambitious” yet and as “unimaginable.” Some have noted how different Nope is form Get Out or Us. Others have compared Peele to some of film’s greatest talents including Alfred Hitchcock, Steven Spielberg, and John Carpenter. Check out the wide-ranging Nope reactions below:
As is evident from the initial Twitter response, Nope has few detractors so far. Peele has to fill his own big shoes with Nope, for Get Out received praise including Oscar nomination, and Us was also well-regarded and still has fans theorizing today. With Nope, Peele is veering more into the sci-fi genre, and from these early audience responses, it sounds like his decision to go in this direction perfectly combines ambition with a clear vision and style.
With Nope releasing widely later this week, more audience and critical reactions are soon to follow. The early praise suggests that Nope may even follow in Get Out’s footsteps and receive nominations come award season later this year. Could Nope earn Kaluuya his third Oscar nomination and Palmer her first? Only time will tell as more audiences and critics see Nope when it releases widely.
Source: Twitter (Various - See Above)
