Nope: Cowboys vs Aliens 2

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > Cinema Discusso > Nope: Cowboys vs Aliens 2

Space Cadet Omoly: Jan 15, 2014; ~Groovy~

I couldn't put my finger on my the ending felt so familiar to me, then I suddenly realized: hero on a horse, giant flying creature, holy poo poo it's a live action version of Shadow of the Colossus!

I think Nope could be read as a man vs. nature movie, and the ways in which humans use narratives and documentation as a way of dealing with trauma that comes from powerful forces that are largely indifferent to the pain they cause us.

Both the chimpanzee and the alien cause massive amounts of suffering to the humans around them, but they don't do so out of any sort of malice or because it's part of a larger plan. They're just animals who did animal things, they're not even aware they've done something wrong. From the chimps perspective he just got spooked by some balloons and had a little tantrum, then he calmed down and went to get a fist bump. The alien is just a big jellyfish flying around looking for snackies and occasionally pooping out the parts of the snackies it can't digest. It's all so impersonal and meaningless, and humans can't handle that kind of chaos. Thus, they need to capture it and turn it into something they can properly understand and process.

Taking a picture of something or getting it on film turns something wild into something you have control over. Or at least it gives you the illusion of control, and even that illusion is something humans are desperate for as a way to feel purpose and give meaning to their pain.

# ¿ Jul 22, 2022 23:29

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# ¿ May 11, 2024 08:55

Space Cadet Omoly: Jan 15, 2014; ~Groovy~

Young Freud posted:

Jesus, I hadn't thought about that and you're right. Along with the dragon connection implied when they retreat to Angel's apartment, there's definitely some sort of Gernsback Continuum stuff going on with it, like maybe they've existed all this time, like a flying Coelacanth, but we've contextualized them based off their appearance into dragons or flying saucers and created mythologies around them.

Also, maybe the Roswell incident was a baby one and whatever "alien" remains were actually partially-digested humans.

Yeah, there's definitely an argument to be made that Jean Jacket wasn't actually an alien but rather a previously undiscovered animal from earth. The way it behaves makes it seem like a large ambush predator that's evolved to prey on large mammals (like, it disguising itself as a cloud isn't because of technology it's just a natural camouflage reflex).

We never find out where it came from, but we do know why it stayed: Because Jupe has been feeding it.

You're not supposed to feed wild animals (especially predators) because if you do they start to see human homes as part of their territory and feeding grounds, and when that happens things get real violent REALLY fast. For more detail about how bad things like this can go please read "A Libertarian Walks Into a Bear": https://www.amazon.com/Libertarian-Walks-Into-Bear-Liberate-ebook/dp/B083J1FXY8

# ¿ Jul 24, 2022 21:51

Space Cadet Omoly: Jan 15, 2014; ~Groovy~

The_Doctor posted:

I was just reading the TVtropes page for the film, and It says that Holst took the hand cranked footage with him when he ran off? But that�s not what happened, surely? He shot one reel of not much, had to change film container, Angel put in the new reel, and then Holst took off with a smaller camera, leaving Angel to film with the big one. So they definitely got footage on that one, and Holst�s small camera may have survived too.

didn't Jean Jacket suck all that up though? It's been a few days, but I remember him (her?) destroying their little filming tent.

# ¿ Jul 25, 2022 22:44

Space Cadet Omoly: Jan 15, 2014; ~Groovy~

pospysyl posted:

https://www.jupitersclaim.com/

Maybe a lifetime of creepy pastas have just left me numb, but as much as I like this I wish they had made the "dark" side of the website a little bit spookier.

# ¿ Jul 26, 2022 12:02

Space Cadet Omoly: Jan 15, 2014; ~Groovy~

Gavok posted:

I dig the "dark" reviews part. Especially the one who got to hear Jupe's childhood actor stories and followed with, "I�m going to be honest, it made me feel sad."

That was my favorite bit of the whole thing.

Kaddish posted:

That's all fine but then how has it adapted/evolved to disguise itself as a cloud?

Here are my best guesses.

How: incremental evolutionary changes over time passed down via genetics, just like all other mimic species on earth.

Why: to disguise itself from members of its own species.

Ghost Leviathan posted:

The whole central theme of the movie isn't really particularly subtle: it's about animals on film, and specifically their relationship with show business. Showbiz treats them as marketable props, and promotes unrealistic ideas about them. People project a lot onto them and think they know and understand a lot more about them than they actually do, while neglecting their needs and keeping them in environments ultimately unsuited for them. The movie even directly and indirectly references several famous incidents of trained performing animals attacking humans.

Also I think I found a fun way to summarise the movie: Jaws, but they try to monetise the shark.

The whole Gordy sequence is absolutely meant to be foreshadowing, and draws comparisons between Gordy and Jean Jacket- both are ultimately animals, which were trained for a public performance that went horribly wrong. Jupe unfortunately basically ended up recreating the Gordy tragedy on a much larger scale, trying to overcome his trauma and ultimately recreating it in the most horrific possible way- an upset, confused and spooked animal goes on a rampage, brutally killing multiple people, in what was supposed to be cheap entertainment.

Also some interesting conversation on Reddit including a marine biologist's impressions of the movie- they figured out that Jean Jacket was an animal, not a vehicle piloted by sentient beings, before the characters did, based on the way it acts- its body language seems based on aquatic life, squids and octopuses in particular. Incidentally, they also theorise that Jean Jacket's species seems possibly more suited to ocean life, feeding on schools of fish most of the time.

Incidentally, came to mind myself that given its behaviour, body language and response to others- seeing eye contact as a threat like apes do and responding with aggression- seems to imply that it has some level of social behaviours, and the eye contact thing would make particular sense considering that despite apparently having very good eyesight- heck, it can tell that much smaller animals are looking directly at it- its 'eye' is only visible when it makes a threat display. Considering everything it can do, I imagine one of the only natural predators it might have are larger members of its own species, and given its immense appetite it probably has to claim a large amount of territory to sustain itself. Which of course, makes for another scary thought- it's not a one-off, there are others out there, and they might be even bigger.

...of course, given all it really took to kill it was a relatively cheap prop, it ironically isn't that big of a threat once you understand it... much like even the largest and most dangerous animals. Heck, Romans would probably be able to kill one, with decent siege weapons and knowledge of its traits to lure it into a trap, and they wouldn't even notice the EMP thing. If they are native to Earth, the invention of powered flight may have been a mass extinction event for them that humanity didn't even notice.

...also, apparently on an interview, Peele confirmed 'Nope' means Not Of Planet Earth

You could probably kill Jean Jacket with a harpoon, the same way we kill whales. The problem is knowing that ahead of time and preparing enough harpoons and securing a safe location to be able to take it down. Humans are really good at killing basically anything when we have the right tools, but when we don't have those tool that we're basically just bipedal McDonalds value meals.

# ¿ Jul 26, 2022 22:14

Space Cadet Omoly: Jan 15, 2014; ~Groovy~

CelticPredator posted:

I�d punch a grey alien in the face and I�m white as hell.

Greys are fuckin scary man

Same.

If you punch someone who jumps out at you at a haunted house you're an rear end in a top hat, but if you punch someone who tries to jumpscare you out in public or in your own house you're more than justified because you didn't sign up for that poo poo.

# ¿ Jul 31, 2022 09:44

Space Cadet Omoly: Jan 15, 2014; ~Groovy~

CelticPredator posted:

The Jean Jacket Experience

By the end of the experience you feel like poo poo

# ¿ Aug 2, 2022 07:01

Space Cadet Omoly: Jan 15, 2014; ~Groovy~

TheBizzness posted:

I�m a very �give me 90 minute runtimes or give me death� kind of guy but knowing what we know about the scenes that were cut, I�d watch a 4 hour version of Nope

I'm of two minds: I'm also interested in seeing more of Nope and hope it all ends up on Bluray some day, but I feel like the theatrical cut is perfect just the way it is and they were right to take out what they did.

The stalker subplot sounds interesting and I want to see it, but I'm glad it wasn't in the movie because it wasn't needed and wouldn't have added anything that wasn't already there. We saw exactly as much of Gordy's home that we needed to see, it's already perfectly terrifying as is.

Edit:

Yeesh, in addition to mocking the Gordy's Home attack that issue of MAD is also making jokes about the Heaven's Gate cult. Plays well into the whole "horrific tragedy turned into cheap entertainment" theme of the film.

Space Cadet Omoly fucked around with this message at 10:26 on Aug 4, 2022

# ¿ Aug 4, 2022 07:12

Space Cadet Omoly: Jan 15, 2014; ~Groovy~

Ghost Leviathan posted:

The 90s was very 'History is over, we beat the commies and the nazis and there's no more problems anymore, sexism and racism have gone away, so we can point and laugh at anyone!'

"What's that? The people we're all pointing and laughing at are all members of marginalized groups who are still very much suffering from the problems we're claiming are over? Just a coincidence I'm sure, don't think about it."

# ¿ Aug 6, 2022 14:42

Space Cadet Omoly: Jan 15, 2014; ~Groovy~

CelticPredator posted:

No this is good actually.

They were bad people who deserved to die

Agreed, but it's still a bummer way to have to spend your weekend.

That's pretty much the fate of all horror movie protagonists though, they have to go through the worst possible thing imaginable and their only reward for doing so is "not being dead" and sometimes they don't even get that.

Nope is one of the rare exceptions to this where in addition to not dying the protagonists also get something that can make them a ton of money, and frankly they've loving earned some compensation for their trauma (their home was destroyed, their business was ruined, their father was killed, they almost died multiple times) so you know what good for them.

# ¿ Aug 9, 2022 14:39

Space Cadet Omoly: Jan 15, 2014; ~Groovy~

Jack B Nimble posted:

I've resisted being that guy who smugly announces that the infamous scene didn't phase them, but I think I finally realized why, and that's a more useful topic to bring up:

It was so novel and surreal, that cross section view of the digestive process, and human beings drawn into it like Jonah and the whale, that I was sort of taken out of the movie and just sort of absorbed the scene without being immersed within it? I recall my mind racing with questions about the mechanics of how the process worked, and how novel it was to see it this way, that I almost didn't have time to really be bothered by it.

In contrast, in the finale, I found any shot of the creature from below, descending down towards the camera with its orifice pulsing, very uncomfortable and disconcerting. It reminds me of when you get a really clear look at the nastier parts of a non mamilian animal.

I could see that, especially since for me it was the opposite.

I immediately knew what was happening in "That scene", I can't explain why or how but my brain just immediately processed the scene as "Oh, they're being eaten. I'm watching people be eaten right now. They are food. I'm watching people who have been consumed and are being digested right now." and thus I was able to comprehend what was happening well enough that I was able to be terrified of it.

Meanwhile, in the finale, I found the creature to be so novel and surreal (and honestly downright beautiful) that rather than feeling afraid I was simply captivated. It was gorgeous and I wanted to keep looking at it.

# ¿ Aug 17, 2022 03:05

Space Cadet Omoly: Jan 15, 2014; ~Groovy~

xiw posted:

The approach of having it unfold in the unfocused background while our characters fled in the foreground was amazing and subtle - you suddenly started realising something was happening and desperately wanted to see it. You know, bringing the audience around to being more interested in the spectacle than human life or death.

Yup, if that's what Peele was going for then he totally got me.

Don't get me wrong, I liked our human protagonists a lot and was emotionally invested in not wanting to see them die, but FUUUUUUUUCK that was such a cool looking thing let me look at the cool thing please please PLEASE!

I guess I'm part of the problem when it comes to the issue of "viewers" but then again so is the rest of humanity and that's sort of the point of the film.

# ¿ Aug 17, 2022 04:20

Space Cadet Omoly: Jan 15, 2014; ~Groovy~

CelticPredator posted:

Jean jacket is a piece of sheet

A sheet that could perhaps be made into something, a jacket maybe?

# ¿ Sep 1, 2022 09:57

Space Cadet Omoly: Jan 15, 2014; ~Groovy~

Steve Yun posted:

Jordan Peele wrote an animated movie for Netflix called Wendell & Wild, and he and Key are the titular characters in it

Coming sept 11

Really looking forward to this.

Keegan-Michael Key is a fantastic voice actor with a lot of range, but voice acting isn't really an appreciated acting style here in America so it doesn't get brought up much.

# ¿ Sep 1, 2022 10:08

Space Cadet Omoly: Jan 15, 2014; ~Groovy~

CelticPredator posted:

This one always skeeved me out as a kid and the actual puppet is even freakier

Oh God. You can see through it's skin. Why can you see through it's skin!?

I hate it, but I also love it.

# ¿ Sep 16, 2022 09:10

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# ¿ May 11, 2024 08:55

Space Cadet Omoly: Jan 15, 2014; ~Groovy~

Ghost Leviathan posted:

Might also just be that Kid Sheriff gives me huge Fallout vibes. Like, the kind of in-universe Old World mascot and merchandise you'd see in a Fallout game.

I didn't make that connection, but now that you've brought it up I suddenly realize I completely agree.

There would probably be a side quest you could do to get a Kid Sheriff outfit and a custom Kid Sheriff gun.

# ¿ Oct 2, 2022 08:55

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > Cinema Discusso > Nope: Cowboys vs Aliens 2