South Korean filmmakers continue to push the genre envelope, and Na Hong-jin, director of The Wailing, has done just that with his balls-to-the-wall action/sci-fi/horror flick, Hope. Delivering breathless chases, shootouts, and gory monster violence with humor and light-hearted Amblin-esque touches, it’s a film that defies easy description as there’s nothing else quite like it. Clocking in at a robust 160 minutes, Hope is a lot to take in and it can get exhausting, but it’s well worth it for one of the most unique experiences of the year.
The first hour is an incredible, non-stop chase sequence done in real time, as bumbling police chief Bum-seok (Hwang Jung-min) investigates animal slaughters in the sleepy South Korean village of Hope. This quiet town full of heavily-armed retirees near the DMZ is a character in itself. We take in the full breadth and scope of it; ramshackle homes and businesses, along with plentiful fields and deep woods, as Bum-seok talks to the locals who deliver a combination of rumors and local myths. What’s funny is how nobody actually seems to respect the chief, and for good reason; he seems like a goof. We certainly don’t expect to get an action hero out of him.
And then, something changes. Bum-seok figures out that it’s a monster destroying everything and killing the residents. In this moment, the dismissable cop goes away and Bum-seok becomes a surprisingly reliable leader and warrior, unafraid to show how freaked out he is by this madness. What unfolds is a nearly hour-long, relentless pursuit in which we never actually see the creature. This works tremendously in Hope‘s favor for a number of reasons. It builds up anticipation for the moment when we actually do see it, in a moment that will have you questioning who the true monsters really are. But also…because it delays the reveal of the film’s biggest weakness: the visual effects aren’t very good at all, and don’t improve.
I’d be lying if I said the shoddy CGI doesn’t take you out of the film at some points. However, the spectacle Hong-jin creates is so overwhelming that you’ll mostly be able to ignore it. The action cranks up to another level with the introduction of Squid Game breakout and Korean superstar Jung Ho-yeon as Sung-ae, a tough as nails rookie cop introduced in a crowd-pleasing moment saving the day with her trusty grenade launcher. The film begins to take on the shape of a buddy cop procedural, with the duo investigating the origins of the attackers, only to find that humanity’s own actions may have had something to do with it.
Hope isn’t nearly as effective in these quiet moments, and the thinness of the screenplay stands out during interactions among the locals. Fortunately, it’s only a brief respite before another massive hour-long setpiece explodes onto the screen. This one involves hotshot local hunter Sung-ki (Zo In-sung), who gets the film’s wildest sequence, hanging out the side of a speeding vehicle trying to gun down the pursuing monsters. Looking like a true action hero in the superhero mold, it’s understandable why Sung-ae gets googly-eyed for him.
The final act is a complete trainwreck, however, as we learn the real reason for the invasion, teasing an intergalactic crisis that feels like it comes from a completely different movie. Adding to the discord are the instantly recognizable voices of Michael Fassbender, Alicia Vikander, Taylor Russell, and more. This cosmic revelation undercuts the underdog narrative, the feeling of community coming together to face a seemingly impossible foe, and replaces it withsomething impenetrable. Clearly, the hope for Hope is a larger sequel that ups the scope significantly, possibly going offworld. I’m not sure that’s the wisest idea. Hope is such a special movie, with down-to-earth characters that you instantly fall in love with, engaged in a marathon of monster mayhem that guarantees it will become a cult favorite. It would be a shame to see all of that thrown away for the sake of building a franchise.
Hope opens in theaters on September 9th.
