Editor’s note: The views and opinions expressed in this review are solely those of Marlon Wallace and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of WBOC.
This is Jordan Peele’s third feature. It follows his hit, horror film and Oscar-winner, Get Out (2017) and his sophomore effort, Us (2019), which did just as well in the box office as his debut. Because of the cinematic success he’s received in the past five years, Peele has become a director to watch, no matter what he does. Those previous films represented a more unique vision and original ideas. They also commented on race and class in ways that not many films do. This film feels lesser by comparison and doesn’t seem to comment or make an overall statement beyond the confines of the plot. In that, it’s less of a film to ponder or consider in terms of some grander metaphor. It’s arguably Peele’s most straightforward film. It is what it is and not much more. It feels the most like a disposable, summer popcorn flick.
It’s ironic that prior to this film, a trailer played for Steven Spielberg’s Jaws (1975), which is being re-released for Labor Day 2022. It’s ironic because Peele has essentially made his version of Jaws mixed with Spielberg’s War of the Worlds (2005). However, the events that play out here are somehow more preposterous, certainly more preposterous than Jaws but somehow even more so than that of War of the Worlds. The criticism here is akin to the criticism of John Krasinski’s A Quiet Place (2018), which wants to be a monster movie that’s very insular and shuts out the rest of the world, even the immediate world around them, despite the monster in question representing a global or large-scale threat.
Daniel Kaluuya (Get Out and Judas and the Black Messiah) stars as Otis Haywood Jr, aka OJ, a horse trainer who works on his father’s ranch just outside Los Angeles. The ranch provides animals for Hollywood productions. When strange things start to occur, OJ suspects that it’s a result of a UFO. Unfortunately, Peele doesn’t give us much in terms of OJ’s character, other than he seems to have an innate respect for animals than he does humans. The only exception is his father and his sister. Otherwise, OJ is a mostly quiet and brooding guy with very little dialogue. His sister is the one who does most of the talking.
Keke Palmer (Hustlers and Akeelah and the Bee) co-stars as Emerald Haywood, the younger sister to OJ. She’s possibly lesbian. She’s not a horse trainer but she works at the ranch, or she comes to work there. Because her brother is so quiet and rarely talks, she becomes the spokesperson for their company, helping to promote their horse training business in Hollywood, but it’s clear that she’d rather be doing something else like acting or producing herself. When her brother believes a UFO has been sighted over their ranch, she becomes the catalyst for trying to capture it on video and then selling it to make them rich or famous.
It’s not a coincidence that Hollywood plays an element in this film. If one wanted to extrapolate a grander metaphor beyond the confines of the plot, one could extrapolate one about Hollywood itself and filmmaking. Again, prior to this film, a trailer played for Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer (2023). From a technical perspective, Nolan shot the film using IMAX cameras and 70 mm celluloid. Most films since the advent of the 21st century are shot using digital cameras, but Nolan is a staunch advocate for making movies today in the old or traditional way. He values the process and product of celluloid or analog film versus digital. Nolan pushes against the industry at large with his desire to push analog filmmaking and not digital. Similarly, there is a push in this film in that same regard. Literally, it gets to a point where OJ and his sister have to use analog technology in order to capture evidence of the UFO, as opposed to digital technology.
Steven Yeun (Minari and Okja) also co-stars as Ricky Park, aka Jupe. He’s a former child actor who now runs a Western-themed, amusement park in the desert near OJ’s horse ranch. In fact, Jupe has been buying horses from OJ in order to have them in his rodeo-like show. Not to spoil anything, but Jupe had a very traumatic experience when he was younger involving an animal. In a flashback, we learn what that traumatic experience was and it’s a stark example of how even a domesticated animal can become feral and dangerous. That flashback is meant to convey and set-up a need for respect or appreciation of an animal’s power.
Yeun is only in three scenes in the film. Other than contrasting Jupe’s relationship with animals, as opposed to OJ’s relationship with animals or what OJ has learned from them, Jupe’s presence in this film feels superfluous. The flashback scenes in themselves are creepy, but, with the exception of demonstrating a possible origin story for why Peele’s production company is called “Monkeypaw,” I didn’t think those flashbacks were all together necessary.
At its core, this film is a monster movie with a rather unbelievable monster. It could be akin to a film about the Loch Ness Monster or Sasquatch. Yet, there are logical explanations as to why those creatures haven’t been found or discovered in a definitive way. Yes, people come up with excuses as to why alien UFOs have been able to hide detection, even in the modern-era. One would simply have to buy into it, such as fans had to buy into later episodes of The X-Files (1993). There are moments though that invoked natural disaster films like Twister (1996), and I feel like that’s what Peele wants. He wants to be more Twister and less The X-Files, less intellectual and more summer popcorn.
In terms of filming a threat that comes from the sky, Peele along with his cinematographer shooting on IMAX are able to do a better job of selling that threat than someone like M. Night Shyamalan in The Happening (2008). What truly broke my suspension of disbelief though is the fact that a massacre or the aftermath of which is depicted, yet the shocking lack of police and media attention is incredible. It’s not clear how much time has passed since the massacre and the last act of this film, but the absence of police and media who would be swarming that place felt disingenuous.
Rated R for language and some bloody images.
Running Time: 2 hrs. and 10 mins.
In theaters.
