Hope, 2026.
Written and Directed by Na Hong-jin.
Starring Hwang Jung-min, Zo In-sung, Hoyeon, Alicia Vikander, Michael Fassbender, Taylor Russell, Cameron Britton, Lee Sang-hee, Um Mun-suk, Im Hyun-sik, Hwang Seok-jeong, Han Woo-yeol, Chyu Kwang-hyun, Oh Doo-won, Yoo Jun-hong, Seo Beom-sik, and Baek Seung-chul.
SYNOPSIS:
A mysterious discovery is made on the outskirts of the remote harbor town. The residents find themselves in a desperate fight for survival against something they have never encountered before.
With writer/director Na Hong-jin’s Hope, distributor Neon is letting a video game escape into movie theaters (complimentary, though in my interview with him he mentioned anime as more of an influence). In what is a drastic change of pace from horror efforts such as the extraordinarily terrifying and original The Wailing, this is the first part of an epic (yes, at nearly 3 hours, this feels like the first act of something much more epic in scope) in line with survival horror gaming tropes more than blockbuster movies (at some points, it also feels as if the goal was to mock Hollywood clichés).
Here, characters yell at one another during intense, extended chase sequences to fire grenade launchers into the towering humanoid creatures (who sometimes prefer crawling at high speed, not necessarily reminiscent of a dinosaur, but not an inaccurate comparison either). Entire clips of semi-automatic rifles miss wildly and are emptied into the ground while targeting these creatures (something made more amusing by the fact that the majority of the humans are police officers and experienced hunters), and when ammunition does pierce them, they might as well be bullet sponges, absorbing the damage and propelling forward like a freight train. By the way, those creatures look like they were ripped straight out of a PlayStation 4 game, or at the very least, could have been rendered using the Unreal Engine, which is commonly used to make video games.
A good portion of the dialogue is nonsense you would hear a computer-controlled character yelling at you about how to defeat a gigantic boss, or that you are kicking ass and attacking the convenient weak spot. Then, the monsters begin communicating with one another and reveal aspects of their story (played by actual Hollywood stars, including Michael Fassbender, Alicia Vikander, and Taylor Russell), adding yet another layer that feels as if it were ripped from some acid trip cross between Resident Evil and Final Fantasy. The final fight/chase sequence itself is breathtakingly balanced between a thrilling sequence that feels as if it should be played and one that is just as rip-roaring to watch.
As one might gather from reading this review, Hope is entirely a wavelength action/horror extravaganza with a wicked sense of humor that some are bluntly going to scratch their heads at. We are also talking about a movie that is interrupted by a supporting character dropping exposition about his first encounter with the monsters, complete with graphic, hilarious detail about taking a dump in the woods while observing it.
Some of this comes with a point; as mentioned, one half of the protagonists are police officers, with the chief Go Bum-seok (Hwang Jung-min) presented as a bumbling, incompetent law enforcer with such gullibility that he believes his hunting cousin Go Sung-ki (Zo In-sung) and his group that a tiger is responsible. Go Bum-seok is also frequently surprised that nearly everyone in the town has some serious firepower that would never be legally registered in South Korea (whether or not this is commentary on gun control effects or yet another eccentric quirk of this small mining town is up for debate), and possibly gets more civilians killed than temporarily out of harm’s way. Fortunately for us, most of those deaths are gnarly and brutal, with body parts flying across the screen.
This is countered by his aforementioned cousin (a hunting marksman with a lucky horseshoe up his ass to comic degrees whenever his life is in serious danger) and a younger recruit in Lin Sung-ae (Hoyeon), the most all-around competent of the bunch, although seemingly with a death wish, rushing into the chaos. In a decision that might turn away anyone who didn’t see the movie at Cannes, before anyone even knew what this was, Na Hong-jin keeps the first monster reveal off-screen for almost an hour (52 minutes exactly, he tells me), which is equal parts frustrating since there is another 90 minutes ago yet worthy of applause for how skillfully he builds that suspense and depicts the ensuing destruction surrounding these characters. Admittedly, that reveal comes at a logical, rewarding moment. Primarily centering on Ko Bum-seok during this opening stretch, it also works from the perspective of a coward who doesn’t want to get too close to the mayhem.
It’s also an opening sequence that, again, could be compared to the tutorial section of a video game, wandering around a sandbox town environment, gradually teasing out with bloody excitement what the characters will be up against. Simultaneously, there is the feeling that this is dragged out a bit too long, especially with the common knowledge that this is a creature feature of some sort. What works in Hope‘s favor is that humorous mean streak; it’s insistent that every horror and action set piece have its share of comedy crammed in, which does wonders in keeping the tone light and goofy amid the relentless, gory chaos.
These are not necessarily characters worth caring about. Even as a narrative, Hope doesn’t offer much to invest in, but it’s an impeccably crafted spectacle (the cinematography, production design, and set decoration leaving one in awe across every location and set piece) that sure as hell leaves an itch to see what happens next.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★
Robert Kojder
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=embed/playlist
