Nope

 It's true. 

I never reviewed Jordan Peele's directorial debut, Get Out, and only saw it on-demand a few weeks before it won Best Original Screenplay at the Oscars. It was pretty good. But while I skipped his follow-up, Us, I didn't skip his latest effort, Nope. Let's see how it is.

OJ (Daniel Kaluuya) and Em Haywood (Keke Palmer) are descendants of the unnamed man Muybridge filmed riding The Horse in Motion. Their dad, Otis Sr. (Keith David), runs a Hollywood Horse Ranch until he's suddenly killed by a falling nickel. OJ and Em are left in charge of the Ranch and struggle to keep it going. OJ even resorts to selling horses to former child star Ricky Park's (Steven Yeun) Boom Town theme park. Their earthly concerns give way to something unearthly.

OJ and Em soon see a flying saucer roaming around. It sucks up anyone it finds and spits out their bloodied remains. They recruit Fry's techie Angel Torres (Brandon Perea) to help them get proof of their close encounter. They get their proof, but it's soon up to them to stop the UFO, which they call "Jean Jacket," from eating more people.

Oh yeah, eating people. We get to see inside its gullet as it devours an unfortunate crowd. It's a brief, yet merciless scene, which is made worse when we hear their screams outside it. One can only hope it's mimicking its victims. The visual effects team supervised by Guillaume Rocheron and the sound designers went above and beyond in making Jean Jacket an unearthly presence. Cinematographer Hoyte Van Hoytema captures Jean Jacket's final form in its majestic, eerie glory. 

Peele excels at unseen horror, too. The film introduces us to Gordy (Terry Notary), Ricky's former chimp co-star who literally goes ape on the set of their sitcom. Gordy's viciousness is thankfully obscured, but we see plenty as he goes after anyone and everyone, until he's ironically put down just as he makes nice with Ricky. Jean Jacket's presence is telegraphed by electronics sputtering out. Expect a few rounds of tense silence to follow. Editor Nicholas Monsour deserves as much credit as the visual effects team and sound designers for these terrifying scenes.

Kaluuya and Palmer have great sibling chemistry as OJ and Em. They're both strong-willed people trying to make sense of their circumstances, even if the titular word is a valid response to them. Perea is quite likable as Angel, while Yuen as Ricky has his best scenes when we see he's not as unfazed by the Gordy incident as he appears. Michael Wincott is decent as Antlers Holst, a cinematographer recruited to help film Jean Jacket. The one-scene wonder is Devon Graye as a motorcyclist reporter with hilariously skewed priorities.

Nope is a Yes. Its earthly heroes are compelling, while its unearthly menace is unsettling. Anyone looking for a strong sci-fi spooktacular will get their money's worth. You won't want to leave your seat or divert your eyes during its 131-minutes. Yes, not even during its most gruesome moments. See it soon and see what I mean.