Nope (Film Review)

2022 Universal Pictures
Written and Directed by: Jordan Peele
Starring: Daniel Kaluuya, Keke Palmer, Steven Yeun, Michael Wincott, Brandon Perea, Wrenn Schmidt, Barbie Ferreira, and Keith David
MPAA Rating: R; Running Time: 130 Minutes
The Nicsperiment Score: 6/10

When OJ and Em Haywood's father dies, it's up to them to take over the family business, Haywood's Hollywood Horses. Unfortunately, they don't have their father's skill in the family business, and things are looking dire out on their remote, desert ranch. Things become even more dire, though, when a mysterious flying object starts scaring away, and possibly sucking up their horses. What should they do? Run? Hide? Try to catch the UFO...sorry, UAP, on camera?
Pros: Once Nope finally gets going, it's a pretty fun monster flick. When the nature of the UFO is revealed, the design is fun and fairly original. I also enjoyed seeing Michael Wincott, who plays an aging cinematographer, but even more, I enjoyed hearing his ridiculously awesome voice again. Why hasn't this guy been in every movie since 1990? His extended apperance feels like a reference from writer/director, Jordan Peele's old sketch show with former writing partner, Keegan Michael Key.There are fun details like this throughout the film, like Scorpion King reference/merch that reminds me of some of the silly minutiae in the duo's Gremlins 2 and Batman sketches. While I didn't dislike the film, I wish there was more to latch onto.
My issues start with the characters, and try as I might, I can't help but negatively compare them to the ones from Jaws. I feel like I know nothing about them, even though I just spent a LONG time with them. Even with Steven Yuen's ex-child actor, now theme park owner, the only character to receive much of a backstory, I feel like I understand more of what he is supposed to thematically represent versus who he actually is...or what he is supposed to thematically represent, as each time this film tries to get out a thematic sentence, it hiccups. There are some elements relating to human interaction with spectacle, the unknowable, or the wild in general, but they all seemed pretty surface level, and not fully fleshed out.
Meanwhile, the monster, which the characters nickname "Jean Jacket" is interesting, but the nature of it reminds me of the deeper flaws in Us, Peele's previous film. The film implies that Jean Jacket has been gobbling up people and animals since Biblical times. However, the film also implies that this is the first time Jean Jacket is drawing any attention in the modern world, even though it at on point eats an arena full of people. In this film's superior 1990 kindred, Tremors, there's a reference to the monsters being contained by the surrounding mountains. Someone in Nope throws out a "this place sure is remote" comment, but that's about it. I mean, the thing can fly, and it's apparently been to the Middle East.
I had a lot of time to ponder these things, as though the movie is fun for a while when it gets going, holy cow does it take a while to get going. There's so much empty, time-wasting space in this film. Even the final confrontation with the monster goes on too long. Time has been on Peele's side before, though. I feel like the ideas for Peele's cinematic debut, Get Out, must have been germinating in his head for a long while. That's why Get Out is so much more thought out than Us and Nope. I don't think, at least so far, like he can come up with solid ideas on a shorter timeline with any consistency. He appears to still be riding the critical goodwill from Get Out, but that can't last forever. Here's hoping he figures it out.