The movie opens with a blood-covered chimpanzee on the set of a 90s TV show, Gordy's Home. Clearly, the chimp has gone berserk. The point of view is from someone hiding under a table. The chimp turns, notices, and starts to approach...
On the Haywood Ranch, OJ (Daniel Kaluuya) gets up before the dawn to feed and exercise the horses. His father (Keith David) talks about how a movie sequel will save the ranch from financial woes. Haywood Ranch provides horses for movies. And then the power fails, and strange things fall from the sky, peppering the landscape like tiny meteors. Months later, the ranch is not doing well and OJ has taken to selling horses to a local Western theme park called Jupiter's Claim. Ricky "Jupe" Park (Steven Yuen) is the owner, a former child star who hid under a table when Gordy the chimpanzee went berserk. In addition to buying horses, he has also made an offer to buy the Haywood Ranch. The ranch has continued to suffer power outages that even effect battery-powered items like cars and cell phones. OJ has spotted something soaring in the clouds and hears strange shrieking as it travels. Emerald (Keke Palmer), his sister, insists they install cameras to get a picture of it, thinking it will be the solution to their financial woes.
As anyone who has seen the trailer would know, there is a UFO stalking the Haywood Ranch. However, this isn't your standard alien invasion-type movie. Nope, it is something different. Entertaining and suspenseful, it is a fine entry in Peele's movie catalog. Better than Us, but not as good as Get Out. Kaluuya and Palmer are terrific in their contrast, one serious, subdued, and introverted and the other manic, chatty, and extroverted. Yuen gets a lot of backstory that is interesting but generally beside the point. I didn't puzzle out the meaning during the film but had to have it explained via IMDb Trivia and YouTube reviews. Antlers Holst (Michael Wincott), a cinematographer, is recruited to somehow film the UFO. He brings a crank-powered camera to avoid the power failure issue. However, his actions are unexpected and not explained afterwards. He wanted to take the impossible shot and one supposes that he may have.
Good popcorn fun!
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