Ayden The NinjaPirateBear’s review published on Letterboxd:
2022 Ranked
Directors Ranked: Jordan Peele
Look, I'm not smart enough to get all of the underlying themes in a Jordan Peele movie, and Nope is no different. I am positive there are some deep messages woven throughout this that went over my head. I did get an "exploitation by Hollywood" type vibe when it came to this, but that seemed pretty obvious and surface level, so I'm not sure if I missed something else. All that being said, I still really enjoyed this.
For starters, the direction. The film is very well-paced, never boring at all. And the camerawork/cinematography. Holy shit, there are some beautiful sequences here. Getting frequent Nolan collaborator Hoyte van Hoytema as the cinematographer was smart business. The scenes at night are both dark but beautifully lit and I can't really explain it, but it looks fucking incredible. There are also some interesting POV shots throughout the movie that work in a weird way too.
The performances are also great in this. I always love to see Keith David and wish he had more screentime. But I really liked the two leads, Daniel Kaluuya, who doesn't miss, and Keke Palmer, who, while being the complete opposite of Kaluuya, is excellent. There was a real chance that she could've gone too over the top for her character, but she balances that line perfectly and really nails her role. Kaluuya's performance is kinda muted, but he has to do a lot while saying very little and through different expressions, he nails it as well. I really dug their two performances.
The only reason this didn't get a 5 star is because I didn't think it was as good as Get Out. Maybe that's not fair, but it is what it is. On a rewatch, I could see this going up. But for right now, Peele is one of the best directors working. He is three for three.
