Close encounters of the "huh" kind?
Horses in the night skies.
Cowboys and aliens and predators all feature in Jordan Peele's newest film "Nope," and
you don't need access to any X-Files to understand it all.
Keep watching for the confusing moments in "Nope" explained.
Spoilers ahead.
Early in the film, "Nope" introduces OJ Haywood and his father Otis Sr.
The two run a horse ranch with a side business of wrangling the animals for Hollywood films,
and their intro scene starts off pretty quiet and peaceful.
That is, until an array of objects start raining from the sky like daggers — one of which
fatally wounds Otis.
This scene is pretty clearly explained via the later events of the film, but it can be
a bit confusing at first.
While OJ is told by the authorities that the items likely fell out of an airplane, he doesn't
buy that explanation.
Eventually, he discovers that a giant alien monster is to blame — a creature that vomits
out any non-organic material after feeding.
So, presumably, the alien was passing overhead after a meal, cloaked in its cloud cover,
and unfortunately decided to spit up some keys and coins directly over Haywood ranch.
Following the brutal opening combo of "Gordy's Home" and Otis' death, "Nope" launches into
a full opening credits sequence — something that's seen less and less in modern movies
but common to the classic genre flicks that Peele pulls from.
The only thing is, it's hard to tell exactly what's going on during the opening credits.
The names appear in the middle of an oscillating landscape of waves, almost like the viewer
is sitting inside an otherworldly blanket fort.
Eventually, the camera zooms in to reveal a man riding a horse — a clip later explained
to be the first movie ever made.
It's impossible to discern what's happening your first time watching the "Nope" opening
credits, but after going through the full film, it becomes much clearer.
The camera shot that displays the credits is the same shot used to show the inside of
the alien's mouth later on.
The flags from the decoy house are repeatedly shown dangling out the billowing maw, and
the shot is used again in the Star Lasso Experience scene when the creature devours a whole show's
worth of people.
This could just be a fun Easter egg for folks on their second viewing, but it can also be
read as thematically significant.
Ricky refers to the UFO as "The Viewers" and that's also what you are when you're watching
the movie.
Rattling off the cast and crew from the perspective of the monster makes that connection even
more explicit, and the texture of the alien also foreshadows its final form.
After getting kicked off the set of a commercial, OJ and Emerald head to the Wild West theme
park Jupiter's Claim, owned by the enigmatic Ricky Park.
Specifically, OJ goes there to sell another horse, Lucky, to Ricky, having already sold
him almost a dozen.
While in the meeting, OJ brings up the notion of buying a few of the horses back, which
causes Ricky to pause and eventually change the subject.
This scene makes a lot more sense with the context of the rest of the movie.
It's implied that Ricky has been experimenting with the alien for some time by feeding it
horses — a grim act that eventually becomes the centerpiece of his Star Lasso Experience.
Ricky probably balks at the idea of selling OJ the horses back because, well, they're
not around anymore.
Instead of discussing the issue, Ricky switches gears and tells Emerald all about his experience
shooting the sitcom "Gordy's Home" — the site of the violent incident pictured in the first scene.
This moment also foreshadows the Star Lasso Experience, as it shows Ricky's ability to
ignore trauma and potential danger in the interest of turning a profit.
After setting up security cameras all around the ranch and preparing for the UFO's return,
OJ has what seems at first to be a real alien encounter in the horses' stables.
While investigating some strange activity, he comes upon three big-headed beings covered
in coarse black hair.
It's one of the film's spookier scenes, but it ends up being a complete fake-out, as the
"aliens" are nothing more than three kids in costumes.
Specifically, they're the children of Ricky Park, showing up later on in the same costumes
to perform at the Star Lasso Experience.
After their cover is blown, they tell OJ not to mess with Jupiter's Claim and quickly leave.
OJ seems to think it's because Emerald stole one of the park's horse statues, but there
might be more at play than simple payback.
It's suggested at various points that Ricky is interested in purchasing the whole Haywood ranch.
Given that his newest business venture involves chasing down a UFO that lives in the area,
that makes a lot of sense.
Considering that, it's possible the kids' prank would have been just the start of a
campaign to compel OJ to sell.
Businessmen using skeevy tactics to force people to sell property is a classic Western
trope, and it feels right at home in "Nope."
Arguably the most graphic and striking scene in all of "Nope" happens after the alien eats
the people at the Star Lasso Experience.
The creature descends directly over the Haywood house and begins releasing all manner of objects.
Coins, keys, and a giant statue of a horse all get jettisoned out of the creature's maw,
but it also spews a veritable hailstorm of blood and viscera from its recently consumed meal.
In other words, the alien starts raining literal blood over the Haywood house.
"It's above us."
The spark for this horrifying moment is the alien's feast at Jupiter's Claim.
It sucks up way more people and other assorted items than ever before, so it makes sense
that its release ends up being so massive.
Why it chooses to dump all over the Haywood house specifically, however, is a bit less clear.
The best explanation is probably OJ's own — it's a territorial animal, and it's marking its territory.
Despite being one of the two lead protagonists of "Nope," OJ Haywood doesn't get a ton of
overt character development.
He's a quiet and solitary man who seems to prefer the company of horses to that of humans,
but he also doesn't seem to love the Hollywood work that his father pushed him into.
Even UFO attacks and raining blood barely get a rise out of OJ, who willingly returns
to the ranch time after time despite the inherent danger.
"Nope."
Why does OJ do this, knowing that he could get abducted and devoured?
You could read it as OJ wanting the money.
Emerald claims that a great shot of the alien will make them rich and famous, which would
definitely be a motivating factor for most people.
But is it the kind of thing that OJ would care about?
As OJ tells Emerald before returning to the ranch, he's got "mouths to feed."
He clearly feels a familial obligation to take care of the horses and keep the ranch going.
He stays in the Hollywood business in large part because it's what Otis would have wanted,
and he may see exposing the alien as a way of paying tribute to his father as well.
If there is money to be made from the alien, it would mean that OJ wouldn't need to sell
any more horses, which seems good enough for him.
The climax of "Nope" is a complicated sequence, and there are a lot of things that are easy
to miss your first time watching it.
Essentially, the whole group lays out an elaborate plan to capture the alien fully on camera.
Each character has their own motivations, with Angel wanting to expose extraterrestrials
to the public, Emerald seeking out the fame and fortune a great shot could bring, and
Holst seeking out some kind of artistic achievement by making an "impossible shot."
"The shot.
The money shot.
Undeniable, singular, the – the 'Oprah shot.'"
One of the more confusing parts of the plan involves the dozens of sky dancers that the
crew sets up all around the ranch.
At first, they look like they're meant as distractions, but they're actually a sort
of radar system.
Because anything electrical conks out when near the alien, you can tell where the creature
is by which sky dancers get turned off.
The electrical issues are also why Holst brings an old-fashioned hand-crank camera, which
doesn't rely on any modern power source to operate.
Finally, OJ uses a parachute-laden string of flags, the same kind that temporarily incapacitates
the alien earlier in the movie, as a means to briefly scare it off.
Once the UFO gets on him and he rides into position for the shot, he releases the string
into the air to dissuade the alien from eating him and Lucky.
The plan works, and both OJ and Lucky make it out in one piece.
For his climactic ride on Lucky, OJ chooses to wear the orange crew hoodie he got from
working on the set of "The Scorpion King" with his father.
He mentions the film much earlier during a conversation with Emerald, who shares that
Jean Jacket, the horse that was supposed to be her first, was the one brought along for
the shoot.
"The Scorpion King" generally seems to symbolize the complicated relationship that the Haywood
siblings had with their father.
It was the first job that OJ got brought along for, it marked a schism between Otis and Emerald,
and because Jean Jacket didn't even end up being used in the film, it also represents
unfinished business.
He even goes so far as to dub the alien Jean Jacket.
All of these little details surely play into OJ's decision to wear the hoodie.
He brings in all these loose ends from his relationship with his father, and it seems
like he gets some closure by confronting the alien.
Of course, the hoodie is functionally relevant, as its bright orange color is easy for both
the alien and the rest of the crew to see, and it's big enough for OJ to wrap himself
in what looks to be a bulletproof vest for extra protection.
Emerald even sews some eye-like reflectors into the back of the hood to help get the
creature's attention when the time comes.
Just as everything is set for the big alien shoot, the crew gets disrupted by the surprise
arrival of a paparazzi reporter.
Riding in on an electric motorcycle with a striking chrome helmet that completely obscures
his face, the reporter quickly begins badgering Emerald with questions about the strange incidents
in the area.
Because he looks like a robot from the future, it's natural to assume at first that the motorcycle
man has some ulterior motive for being there.
"So what happens next?"
But in the end, he just dies in a relatively unceremonious fashion.
The main reasons for him showing up seem to be getting Emerald a motorcycle — something
she references early on — and offering another bit of meta-commentary.
Like Holst, the reporter is there to get "the shot."
Even as he's lying on the ground, about to die, he implores OJ to take a picture of him.
"Nope" dabbles heavily in the idea of seeing and being seen, on camera or otherwise.
For a guy so obsessed with being seen and getting the perfect shot, it's more than a
little ironic that he was eaten by a creature that definitely saw him.
Shockingly, the whole plan to capture footage of the UFO goes perfectly — at least until
Holst decides to take a camera with him up a hill, where he's quickly eaten by the monster.
Holst is a curious character throughout the film, to say the least.
Whenever he's shown editing film, it's mostly nature shots of predators fighting.
He agrees to help out when Emerald promises an opportunity to get "the impossible shot,"
which suggests that he's still chasing some kind of artistic peak.
And yet, once he has the shot, Holst seems to lose all sense of himself.
"We don't deserve the impossible," he says before climbing up the hill with his camera.
This seems like a declaration of intent.
Holst willingly travels to higher and more dangerous ground with the camera in tow in
an attempt to make "the shot" even more perfect.
And what's more perfect than what he already has?
More of the alien…at Golden Hour.
He films the alien's approach and attack, even as his camera is destroyed along with
him.
He gets the shot, at the ultimate price.
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