Nope is shaping up to be one of the most enigmatic films that director Jordan Peele has worked on. Beyond the reveal of a UFO as the film’s central plot point, very little has been unveiled about the intentions of the interstellar visitors. If they’re even from outer space at all. Despite framing the alien presence as something sinister in Nope, Peele’s past movies suggest that not all is as it seems and the director could be tricking the audience.
Nope is the title of Peele's third movie as a writer and director. While the first trailer gave very little away, subsequent promos have confirmed suspicions that it revolves around a UFO encounter. OJ Haywood (Daniel Kaluuya) and his sister, Emerald Hope (Keke Palmer), try to get UFO evidence on film at their family ranch, while the flying saucer seemingly terrorizes a local town. It’s a classic setup, and while audiences know Peele for creating iconic villains, they also know him for subverting expectations.
Therefore, it’s unlikely that Nope will be as simple as it looks. Peele is no stranger to a good twist, as his first two movies, Get Out, immediately made it clear something weird was going on, but it wasn’t until the third act that he pulled the rug out and revealed the Armitages as the true villains of the story. In Us, Peele tricked the audience again, revealing Lupita Nyong’o’s character, Adelaide, as the original tethered clone. If Peele follows in that tradition, it’s unlikely that he has a straightforward plot lined up in Nope. Perhaps the aliens’ intentions might not even be all that bad.
While shots of the actual aliens in Nope have been few and far between, the scant few images revealed so far could hint toward a certain benevolence. The first trailer offers a glimpse of the top of what could be a short alien’s head walking around a corner, and later, a bloody fist reaching out to a child. In a later TV spot for , two possible aliens are revealed in a hallway, almost childlike in nature. The impression is given that the aliens – if these shots are in fact aliens – are almost childlike and reaching out for . Their intentions could in fact be good, while the terror they cause could be unintentional.
The reason why the UFO in Nope is abducting people has yet to be revealed. OJ says in the latest trailer: "I don’t think they take you if you don’t look at it." If this is the case, it’s a mystery as to why. Without knowing the aliens' intentions, the possibility that they’re good can’t be ruled out. Jordan Peele proved in Get Out and Us that he is a master of the misdirect, and while the trailers all point toward a sinister alien force, it could all be a trick. The aliens in Nope might just want to make friends.
