We liked it, rating it a 7.5. I've read many of the poor reviews, and...I don't get it. "Horror" doesn't mean only gory, bloody, slasher films. Suspense is integral to a horror film, and Nope delivers that. No story line? There's something strange going on in their gulch that killed their dad, they're trying to find out what it is - and capitalize on it. Not that hard.
SPOILERS
"aliens abducting people and animals for some reason" REALLY? Alien was EATING them! How hard is that to figure out?
"And where did the flying shrapnel even come from?" SERIOUSLY? The alien was ridding its digestive system of anything inorganic. How hard is that to figure out?
"a crazed A/V specialist who sacrifices himself for no reason" REALLY? I guess most people "watch" movies but really don't pay attention. Antlers made some statement about his being the best, and how hard it is to top that. When he saw the creature, he knew his greatest achievement would be to get the perfect shot - of being swallowed up into it. Like storm chasers who would love to film being picked up by a tornado. He knew he could film the innards, and then the alien would spit out the camera and film - thus giving the world a film clip that no one else could ever top.
"slow moving" and "boring". I'm guessing these are people who have the attention span of a gnat and want something to happen every five seconds. "Slow moving" - it's actually building suspense. Nothing boring about it. Every scene had a purpose.* e.g. Why did Jupe want to buy the ranch? For the sacrificial horses he used every Friday night...(Which is dumb. It'd be far cheaper to buy horses destined for slaughter.)
*We had a hard time figuring out the "why" of the Gordy subplot. When I Googled it, now I get the tie-in. Google "what's the deal with Gordy the chimp in nope" to get the Mashable article, which explains it well.
We thought the film was beautifully shot, that the pacing was good, we understood the characters (introverted OJ, fame-seeking Emerald), and the plan to capture the alien on film based on everything they'd observed about it - and not die - was fun.
My only issues with it were: #1 - I didn't get the whole Gordy subplot before I Googled it.
#2 - I thought it stupid that it wouldn't suck you up if you didn't look at it. I'd missed the point about it "being territorial" so don't challenge it by looking at it. I'm sorry, but in my mind, an alien with that technology can tell what's organic or not. Organic? Suck up and eat. Not organic? Pass.
#3 - I was disappointed the alien opened up to the big floaty thing. The concept of it being a hard spaceship on the outside, organic on the inside (like Battlestar Galactica's Cylon Raiders) was much more interesting to me. And blowing up just because it ate one giant balloon...aargh.
But we liked it. It was intriguing, it was fun.
SPOILERS
"aliens abducting people and animals for some reason" REALLY? Alien was EATING them! How hard is that to figure out?
"And where did the flying shrapnel even come from?" SERIOUSLY? The alien was ridding its digestive system of anything inorganic. How hard is that to figure out?
"a crazed A/V specialist who sacrifices himself for no reason" REALLY? I guess most people "watch" movies but really don't pay attention. Antlers made some statement about his being the best, and how hard it is to top that. When he saw the creature, he knew his greatest achievement would be to get the perfect shot - of being swallowed up into it. Like storm chasers who would love to film being picked up by a tornado. He knew he could film the innards, and then the alien would spit out the camera and film - thus giving the world a film clip that no one else could ever top.
"slow moving" and "boring". I'm guessing these are people who have the attention span of a gnat and want something to happen every five seconds. "Slow moving" - it's actually building suspense. Nothing boring about it. Every scene had a purpose.* e.g. Why did Jupe want to buy the ranch? For the sacrificial horses he used every Friday night...(Which is dumb. It'd be far cheaper to buy horses destined for slaughter.)
*We had a hard time figuring out the "why" of the Gordy subplot. When I Googled it, now I get the tie-in. Google "what's the deal with Gordy the chimp in nope" to get the Mashable article, which explains it well.
We thought the film was beautifully shot, that the pacing was good, we understood the characters (introverted OJ, fame-seeking Emerald), and the plan to capture the alien on film based on everything they'd observed about it - and not die - was fun.
My only issues with it were: #1 - I didn't get the whole Gordy subplot before I Googled it.
#2 - I thought it stupid that it wouldn't suck you up if you didn't look at it. I'd missed the point about it "being territorial" so don't challenge it by looking at it. I'm sorry, but in my mind, an alien with that technology can tell what's organic or not. Organic? Suck up and eat. Not organic? Pass.
#3 - I was disappointed the alien opened up to the big floaty thing. The concept of it being a hard spaceship on the outside, organic on the inside (like Battlestar Galactica's Cylon Raiders) was much more interesting to me. And blowing up just because it ate one giant balloon...aargh.
But we liked it. It was intriguing, it was fun.