Review:
"Hope"
Release Date: Sept. 9, 2026 Rating: R Running Time: 160 minutes Has the 10 years between films by writer/director Na Hong-jin been worth the wait? Yes and no. Hope, the first offering from Hong-jin since his 2016 chiller The Wailing, finds the South Korean filmmaker executing spectacular action set pieces on a level usually reserved for James Cameron and Christopher Nolan. Unfortunately, this sci-fi thriller’s creature visual effects would not pass Cameron’s muster. In addition, Hong-Jin’s intention to turn Hope into a franchise—or at least to film a sequel—results in an endeavor that feels incomplete and compromised. All starts off promisingly as Hong-jin drops us into the seemingly sleepy South Korean town of Hope Harbor. Police Chief Bum-seok (The Wailing’s Hwang Jung-min) and hunter Sung-ki (Escape from Mogadishu’s Zo In-sung) gather off a local highway to determine which large animal sliced and diced a big bull and left its remains in the middle of the road. A long and humorous discussion about whether a tiger is the culprit allows Hong-jin to establishes Hope’s somewhat jokey tone, which he carries through the film’s many moments of death and destruction. And Hong-jin does not wait long to level Hope Harbor. Minutes after getting back into his patrol car, Bum-seok receives word that an animal is not just rampaging through the streets of Hope but is destroying property and slaughtering all in its paths. Hong-jin and Jung-min initially present the police chief as gullible and bumbling. But the attack on Hope Harbor reveals Jung-min’s true colors: he’s proud of his home, he cares for its people, and he will stop at nothing to defend them from a threat of unknown origin, even if he is terrified at what he may encounter. Hong-jin is in no hurry to reveal the powerful force he unleashes on Hope Harbor—he spends more than 30 minutes tracking its path of destruction, and constantly putting Jung-min in harm’s way, before he shows us the creature in all it’s … awfulness. The creature is not difficult to describe but do so wouldn’t just be a spoiler, it could only minimize the terrible choice Hong-jin makes with this large, dangerous alien entity. And, regretfully, this reveal is an astonishing letdown that almost undermines the chaos that comes before it and after it. Regretfully, the aliens Hong-jin introduces later in Hope look poorly as poorly designed and rendered, including those inexplicably played by married couple Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander. The former resembles a certain monstrous Marvel villain; the latter an inhabitant of Pandora we have yet to meet. It’s a shame because Hong-jin offers two chases in the second part of the film that are executed with whiplash speed and ingenuity. But the presence of Fassbender and Vikander only inspire laughter between the gasps Hong-jin’s orchestrated mayhem induces. It is unclear why the aliens are so different in appearance and function. Or why Hong-jin casts western actors as the actors (the film also includes Bones and All’s Taylor Russell and Mindhunters’ Cameron Britton). Perhaps Hong-jin is trying to position Hope as an allegory of the western world’s growing influence on South Korean and beyond. Or that the aliens serves as a reminder of current and future technology wiping out values and traditions of old. Hong-jin’s fears and concern may become clearer if there is a sequel, because there is nothing in Hope to latch onto. In fact, Hong-jin only answers one question—why the alien wreaks havoc on Hope Harbor—while many other questions left unanswered about the aliens and their arrival on Earth. Worse, the film’s closing sequence includes a turn of events that comes out of nowhere, leaving us dazed and confused when Hong-jin immediately cuts to end credits. (There is an amusing mid-credits sequence that will elicit a big cheer.) The ending is especially jarring because the film’s 160 minutes fly by so quickly that you believe Hong-jin still has at least another 30-40 minutes to wrap things up as neat and tidy as possible. Maybe Hope will play better if and when Hong-jin delivers a sequel, which is reportedly written. (And, fingers crossed, he will hire better visual effects artists for his planned follow-up.) In the meantime. Hope unfolds as half a film, one with as many highs as it has lows. Aired: Sept. 9, 2026. Web sites: https://www.neonrated.com/film/hope https://www.hopethemovie.film/ |
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