Nope

This movie takes its good sweet time getting into the meat of its story. That’s actually something of a throwback, since horror flicks in olden days didn’t put their monsters, chaos and gore out front and center until well into the running time. They generally worked the slow build, unlike much of today’s more hyperkinetic fare. So that’s not an inherent problem with this one; what causes some viewer consternation here at the start, more than anything else, is Keke Palmer's high-volume, grating presence in the otherwise quiet and ominous stage-setting early scenes. You almost want to walk away just to keep her from getting too much on your nerves. Thankfully, the plot and action soon rev up and begin to deliver the kinds of jolts that make her boisterousness relatively muted in comparison. A lot about the middle of the movie is appreciable, with some nasty surprises giving the narrative some high-energy moments. But then, the denouement leaves a bit more to be desired: the monster weirdly transforms, without necessarily becoming anything more particularly scary or alien in character, the characters go off into behaviors that don’t seem particularly rational, and the beastie meets its destiny in a way that does not make much sense. So there are good scenes in the middle, the direction and cinematography present rich visuals—a notable achievement considering the dry-as-dust desert setting of the story—and a lot of the film works ... but there’s also a tepid opening and a not especially compelling ending. You get just enough here to turn a "nope" into a "yes," but just barely—and you are hardly inspired to shout out that affirmative.