HOPE Review

Ko Bum-seok (Hwang Jung-min) is the police chief of Hope Harbor, a small town located near the DMZ in South Korea. He gets a call from his cousin, Ko Sung-ki (Zo In-sung), about a dead cow in the road with unnatural wounds. Rumors begin circulating that a tiger is the culprit, but a trip back into town reveals more unnatural carnage among the cows—and even a farmer. When Bum-seok returns to town, he finds a massacre: buildings torn apart, bodies strewn across the streets, and cars flipped over. Hope Harbor is dealing with an extraterrestrial monster. Calls for reinforcements fail, as nearby towns are dealing with wildfires. Bum-seok, rookie cop Im Sung-ae (Jung Ho-yeon), and Sung-ki's group of hunters are going to have to fight these monsters on their own.

Director Na Hong-jin's first film since 2016's The Wailing is a humongous swing. After a very tumultuous premiere at Cannes, news spread about a controversial element to the film. Hope gets off to a fantastic start, with sprawling cinematography gorgeously capturing the Korean countryside. Excellent tension and a great score build this swirling intrigue as the film slowly burns along. The slowly revealed damage allows us to creep into this universe without throwing us right off the deep end. We even get some great moments of action through anonymity. We see cars being thrown and people skyrocketing into the air without knowing exactly what's doing it. Absolutely enthralling. And then, the monster is revealed, as is the controversy. A nightmare-inducing CGI entity, the likes of which have truly never been seen before.

Credit where credit is due, Na Hong-jin's going for broke here, and a lot of it works. As previously mentioned, the first third of this film is a brilliant setup. Hope, in a lot of ways, harkens back to another era of filmmaking. A beautifully crafted sci-fi action film that really wears its kookiness on its sleeve. The most expensive Korean film ever made at around $70 million USD really puts its budget to good use. Na Hong-jin put a great deal of care into all the minute details, and it shows.

Hwang Jung-min is great as the police chief. He comes in with the quintessential skepticism that these characters are known for, but he ends up having to reckon with all sorts of feelings for these monsters, none more so than pity. Jung Ho-yeon is a real standout here; she captures the underdog essence of her character. The young officer, desperate to be taken more seriously and looking for the opportunity to shine. Zo In-sung is stoic and incredibly heroic, the hunter surrounded by idiotic henchmen he constantly has to clean up the messes of. These character tropes all definitely are staples of the genre, and rather than feeling played out, the cast helps make them feel fresh and new here.

The film's craziness isn't exclusively from a VFX standpoint. The final act of this film is structurally insane, and the entire film is tonally out of whack. The writers definitely seem to lean on absurd comedic moments in heavy moments, something that can no-doubt be overdone. This, and some inconsistencies within the violence itself, mainly what kinds of trauma the humans are able to withstand, create a slightly difficult time taking Hope seriously. Without spoiling, this film ends on a complete and total cliffhanger. I've never seen a less subtle statement of "there will be a sequel."

Hope is unapologetically original, and easily one of the most audacious films of the year. It requires the audience to really suspend disbelief and allow themselves to have fun with some silliness in order to really enjoy the action showcase at hand. There has never been a film quite like this, from perhaps the craziest CGI monsters ever created, to diarrhea humor, to hour-long action sequences in Korean forests. Na Hong-jin has, at a minimum, established himself as a singular auteur.

🍿 SCORE = 57 / 100