confrank

Much of what you expect from pretty much every unnecessary Disney live action remake these days is very much represented here, but what surprised me was how consistently grim of a viewing experience this was. The few times the film attempts to recreate some of the visual gags of the original feel half-baked by comparison, but much of it is also replaced entirely. Dour monologuing, bickering and expanded origin stories dominate the runtime, and I question why - given how this is still clearly oriented towards children - anyone thought this was going to be appealing.

Attempts at thematic depth are noble, but this is not an enjoyable watch for either adults or kids, so I don't know who this was intended for. Good thing there's Disney+ now to drop these in and avoid the shame of a major box office bomb.

Also, I don't care that Tinkerbell is black but those special effects on her were... yikes!

It seems Jordan Peele is well on his way to becoming one of those "event" directors; the kind who essentially has masses flocking to the cinemas simply because their name comes up first on the crew sheet in the same vein as Christopher Nolan and Quentin Tarantino. This was a big step for him to prove he could handle a big budget and a more blockbuster-style scope and he proved up to the job.

Nope wears its influences proudly yet still feels fresh as a daisy for how it plays with both its tropes and your expectations. While going bigger, the buildup becomes a crucial - if slightly too long - assembly of the characters and establishment of important back story that eventually prepares you for a chaotic finale with lots of well-orchestrated payoff. The special effects when needed are top notch, and you can tell because of how confidently the finale is shot in broad daylight. It's B-movie sci-fi elements meets modern technical capabilities. And yes, a few scares in there too - just ask the guy sitting next to me in the theater mumbling paranoid obscenities to himself half the time.

There's a strong argument to be made from me that it should've actually been Steven Yeun's Jupe as the main character rather than OJ and Emerald. His backstory is absolutely fascinating and could've been an enticing spinoff on its own with how it explores monetization of tragedy. Much like this year's earlier horror offering X, I think there's still a story or two to be mined from this world yet. Alas, its secondary contributions here provide some of Nope's most spine-chilling scenes.

So what sort of tongue-in-cheek yet deep cutting political message can we expect from Peele this time? Not much really. There may be a couple digs at the likes of rich housewives who own monkeys and tiger-lover Mike Tyson about how some behaviors simply can't be tamed out of wild animals, but the entertainment is at the forefront as it should be. We may finally have a hit at the cinemas this year other than Top Gun: Maverick that doesn't start a petty Twitter war.

Of all the subtle references to be discovered, my favourite is definitely a brief tribute to Akira. If you're a fan, you'll know it when you see it.

Every character is a dumbass of the highest order, the attempts to tie the original in are beyond lazy, and the woke jokes will age this movie like year-old yogurt. The opening premise was identical to last weeks' episode of South Park mocking this exact trend of bougie liberals migrating to small towns and this movie had no clue how to satirize it.

Save for one jaw-droppingly gory bus slaughter, every scene is garbage and there's no reason for this to exist.