When it comes to the type of films that play in competition at the Cannes Film Festival, you would typically think of grounded character pieces or arthouse dramas. It’s also why I was confused yet fascinated by the appearance of writer-director Na Hong-jin’s first film in a decade, the massive sci-fi action flick Hope. The reception at the festival was sharply divided, with a few early reviews even comparing it to Michael Bay’s Transformers, which made me even more curious. Now that I have finally seen it, there hasn’t been a movie I’ve been so equally entertained and frustrated by at the exact same time.
Set in the quiet South Korean village of Hope Harbor, the film opens with police chief Bum-seok (Hwang Jun-min) responding to a call from a group of hunters about a dead bull in the middle of the street. The hunters, led by Bum-seok’s cousin Sung-ki (Zo In-sung), originally speculate that it might be a tiger, but it’s highly unlikely considering the bull was torn to shreds and left with gigantic claw marks; it couldn’t be the work of any big cat.
While Sung-ki and the hunters go to the forest to track the creature, Bum-seok makes his way back into town, and it’s immediately apparent that something’s horribly wrong. Buildings have been torn apart, bodies are strewn everywhere, and he sees that townsfolk are shooting at…something. Something massive. Following the trail of carnage, Bum-seok quickly realizes that whatever creature killed that cow is now rampaging through town, and even worse, it might not be alone.
“The best part of Hope is easily the first hour.”
The best part of Hope is easily the first hour. There’s a superb sense of tension that Na perfectly builds throughout, playing out like the opening stage of a AAA shooter à la Resistance or Halo. You don’t even see a hint of the creature for the first 40-ish minutes. Once Hope finally makes the big reveal, it sets off this absolutely insane extended action sequence where all hell breaks loose. Bum-seok, scared out of his wits, is chased by the creature when he’s suddenly joined by rookie cop Sung-ae (Hoyeon), brandishing an assault rifle/grenade launcher nearly half her size in one of the coolest character introductions I’ve ever seen.
From there begins the first of Hope’s many incredible chase sequences, with some truly jaw-dropping practical stunts and camerawork on display punctuated by Get Out composer Michael Abels’ great score. I’ve never seen U-turns as cool as the ones in this film, especially when they’re racing down extremely narrow streets.
But once that first hour ends, the momentum grinds to a screeching halt. It is the film’s first real breather, but the film is over two and a half hours long. and the middle stretch is overlong and where the writing starts getting really stupid. For instance, a sequence where Sung-ae gets a testimony from an eccentric old man that’s part exposition dump, part literal dump as the story gets derailed by an extended poop joke. It’s funny at first but then goes on for much, MUCH longer than necessary. It doesn’t help that despite solid performances from the main trio of Hwang, Zo and Hoyeon, none of their characters have much depth to them. That goes doubly for any of the supporting cast, who may as well have “cannon fodder” written on their forehead.
“Once Hope finally makes the big reveal, it sets off this absolutely insane extended action sequence where all hell breaks loose.”
I’ll also be frank: the creatures themselves look godawful. Hope is reportedly the most expensive Korean film ever made, and it’s easy to see where the money went– except for those effects. From a design perspective, they’re the wrong side of generic, looking like an unrendered baddie ripped from a Resistance knock-off. It’s only made worse by some truly atrocious CGI, the worst I’ve seen in years. I should also mention that three of the creatures are bizarrely played by Michael Fassbender, Alicia Vikander and Taylor Russell. As tactile as the action scenes feel, every time it would cut to the janky CG effect pursuing the main characters, it was so jarring I couldn’t help but laugh a little bit.
Despite the slog of a middle section, I was still along for the ride hoping it would get back to the thrills of the first act, and for a while, it did. Even with it repeating similar beats, the later action scenes switch up from cop cars and tight corridors to horseback rides in open woodlands, and it still mostly looks great thanks to Hong Kyung-pyo’s cinematography.
It’s only in the last five minutes where Hope truly fumbles the ball as not only does Na suddenly introduce a new plot element seemingly almost out of nowhere, it’s only compounded by surprise, surprise–it’s actually the end of the movie! It’s some of the worst sequel-baiting I’ve ever seen; not just halting the momentum as much as crashing it into a brick wall.
I struggle on where to even rate Hope. If you go in wanting pure spectacle, it certainly delivers. But there’s a whole lot of stupidity that gets in the way first. I loved it and hated it. Go see it.
