The thing I appreciated most about this was Jordan Peele making something different and fun. Minimal on his race and class allegories making a movie more about sensationalism, fame, legacy, and the clashing of old versus new technology and how each has a place. The alien in this film is also one of the most interesting and unique. Leave it to Jordan Peele to make an alien that looks the way it does in this film scary. The movie benefits from a fun performance by Keke Palmer, Daniel Kaluuya's always alluring eyes, and Michael Wincott's voice. Another thing is the great genre mashups. You've got carnival horror, alien horror, and horror western all in this movie with some ideas and images that reminded me of a blend of Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Poltergeist with Peele's sensibilities.
Synopsis: Two siblings who run a California horse ranch discover something wonderful and sinister in the skies above, while the owner of an adjacent theme park tries to profit from the mysterious, otherworldly phenomenon.
Right off the bat, even though we don't know this is coming the alien yet there is something different. This alien dumps off pieces of things that it eats if it doesn't like them. Any inorganic matter basically. This makes it so pieces of a plane or something like that, fatally hit Otis Haywood (Keith David). The Haywoods run a ranch and train horses that have been used in Hollywood, and through a bit of history altering their jockey was on the first ever motion picture of the riding horse. Otis Jr. called OJ (Daniel Kaluyya) inherits the ranch. Six months later OJ has to start selling the horses to Jupe (Steven Yeun), a former child television star who now runs a western themed attraction park near the Haywood ranch. Jupe was previously on a show starring an ape and the ape went apeshit, pun completely intended and killed a few people on the set before being shot. Meanwhile the UFO alien is seen around the Haywood home and they eventually get help from a local electrician, Angel to install cameras and try to get footage of the alien. OJ seems to be in just less for the fame than his sister Em (Keke Palmer). They eventually get help from famed cinematographer Antlers Holst (Michael Wincott) to film the alien.
The first ever motion picture filmed by Eadweard Muybridge was this jockey and running horse and it has a huge part in the film and the legacy of the Haywood family of characters
Spoiler Alert
I really like how Peele keeps up his track record of unforgettable moments and images, and answering some questions but not others. You never find out anything else about the aliens or what they look like besides what they like to consume, what their weakness, and the appearance of the UFO. The uncanny look of the kids in the masks in that one scene in the stable was nightmarish and just something I won't be able to forget. I loved the moment where the horse goes though OJ's windshield. Thought that was a really good scare. Kaluuya's eyes are great there. I also really enjoy the moment where he first turns away and the UFO doesn't see him. That falls into the movie's sensationalist theme in a really fundamental way as there are things we shouldn't want to see human beings but we can't help ourselves. Just like how he made "I got Five on It" memorable, he does the same with Corey Hart's "I Wear my Sunglasses at Night," here.
As I said before the movie has a sensationalist theme and how people always crave fame and some seek a legacy. Jupe makes the same mistake that actually happened to him as a kid. He never learned that maybe some animals aren't worth messing around with. The show he was on tried to make sensation out of an ape on a TV show and it didn't work and cost lives. Now he's feeding an alien horses to make money for his park. He gets killed for it. Holst can't help but look at the alien. He wants that perfect camera shot and is killed for it. OJ and Em both want different things. OJ wants to keep the legacy of the ranch while Em wants fame. By the end not only do they have the ranch but they come full circle. Not only has their family been the first one's in a motion picture. Now they are the first to have seen an alien with proof, using pictures and possibly a motion picture.
How did they get that picture though? This movie feels quite meta in how it deals with that. Holst uses film and a hand cranked camera while they were previously trying to capture it on digital cameras. Peele's point is that film will be around forever, while digital can make things easier you may always need film to get that perfect shot. Yes pun intended there as well. At the end of the movie Em uses the camera within the wishing well to get pictures of the UFO and the giant helium inflatable used to destroy it. These pictures could probably be spliced into a motion picture, hence taking the legacy of the Haywood family full circle. Calling in an expert to get what they want to film a hostile thing around where they live reminded me of Poltergeist. The spectacle that is the giant UFO reminded me of Close Encounters.
While I did say this doesn't have the race relation themes that some of Peele's other movies have he does make this movie diverse as always. It is odd to have African-Americans and Asian-Americans and a in very western desert location which I'm sure is something he was thinking about. The movie was a little long. I think things could've been sped up a bit. I love the locations as well.
Rating: 8/10
Trivia: Em's introduction, the family history and ranch safety video took 14 takes to shoot. Each take was different. I wonder if that will be on the deleted scenes on the release. I'm curious to see it.
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