Review: HOPE is an Audacious & Bloody Sci-Fi Actioner

It's been a decade since The Wailing, and filmmaker Na Hong-jin is back! Not quite better than ever, but hush, don’t be greedy. His latest, Hope, is an ambitious blend of sci-fi enormity and action-horror destruction—but yikes, what's with the godawful CGI freakshows? Hong-jin's all-in on a bizarre franchise starter that commits to animated character designs that make me feel like I'm playing House of the Dead on my Sega Dreamcast. It's baffling to be so engrossed in a small-town-smashing creature feature, only to then behold the lowest levels of VFX I've seen on a theater screen in quite some time. And, somehow, I think I still liked Hope overall?

It all starts with a dead cow. Hope Harbor's police chief Ko Bum-seok (Hwang Jung-min) investigates a mauled heifer corpse blocking the road; his second cousin, Ko Sung-ki (Zo In-sung), suggests a tiger's loose and sets out into the forest with a hunting party. But the culprit isn't an animal, or even of Earth. As Bum-seok returns to town, he finds the waterfront village massively destroyed by a berserk entity that's big, mean, and inescapably fast. So begins a flabbergasting chase for answers as Bum-seok teams with retired colonel Ahn Nak-yeon (Lee Sang-hee) and fully-loaded rookie cop Im Sung-ae (Jung Ho-yeon), until Hope Harbor is declared safe.

It's standard monster mash territory for a while, as Bum-seok nervously darts around Hope Harbor's rubble heaps, testing his queasy stomach. Hong-jin takes the Jaws approach; don't reveal your baddie(s) too early. The camaraderie of a small town coming together fuels the first act, as Bum-seok engages with neighbors who've armed themselves, including grannies with assault rifles. Then we catch a glimpse of Va'migere (Cameron Britton), a hag-like humanoid with hair metal locks tearing through Hope Harbor, and everything changes. Stealth tactics are out the window, and Sung-ae sets the tone by blasting grenade rounds like a 1980s action star.

Hong-jin invests heavily in action choreography as Hope introduces Va'migere's extraterrestrial species. Michael Fassbender, Alicia Vikander, and Taylor Russell all star as near-unkillable aliens with different combat features: Ma'veyyo (Fassbender) morphs into a mutant guard wolverine; Empress J'aur (Vikander) has antler-like spikes branching from her back; Ai'dovor (Taylor Russell) holds a one-handed axe. Facial scans bring a human touch to their all-digital avatars, cleverly relating man to monstrosity. There's as much characterization of Hope Harbor's invaders as of terrified survivors, which matters because Hong-jin is teeing up future continuations. It's a strange, uncanny group of "others," always ready to fight—for a valid reason.

Hope earned special recognition for Excellence in Action Cinema at the New York Asian Film Festival this year, because that's what Hong-jin does best. There's a feral barbarism about death scenes that holds nothing back. The Empress' clan moves with a racecar's momentum, sending fleshy enemies flying like ragdolls on impact, but that's just initial contact. The way Va'migere snatches a militia soldier and swings him hard enough to decapitate his buddy is worth a howl, or the union guy riding horseback who returns from a scuffle, but he's just a bleeding torso. Hong-jin isn't happy with run-of-the-mill carnage and slow pacing; Hope is a pedal-to-the-metal creature flick that boasts breakneck ferocity and a highlight reel of memorable fatalities for puny harbor natives.

Hong-jin's script is unexpectedly comical, leaning into action-genre satires. Bum-seok's hero-positioned lawman is a sniveling coward at times, while dainty Sung-ae roars onto the scene with a duffle bag arsenal, ready to kick ass. Or there's Hong-jin's pitch-black sense of humor, reveling in blood-drenched mistakes that milk horrible atrocities (like collateral damage) for unexpected laughs. It's the type of movie where stakes are presented with immense gravity, yet there's also a plot-necessary monologue that delivers key information about the aliens … while the speaker keeps describing his unfortunate bout of spicy pork diarrhea.

You read correctly. That's the uncontained magic charm of Hope, weaving between battlefield gross-outs, breathtaking excitement, and genuine laughs without warning.

However, the wretched pixel-vomit elephant in the room—those aliens. Cinematographer Hong Kyung-pyo captures a jaw-dropping chase on horseback through Romania's Retezat Mountains, the sunset kissing his lens so delicately, only for Ma'veyyo’s clunky, half-rendered blur of angular appendages to ruin perfection. How can all the aliens stick out so garishly from their natural surroundings while, when practical … [mild spoilers] let's say during an autopsy scene, the squishy cosmic being looks impeccably crafted by special effects gurus? It's a disappointing juxtaposition that isn't just stock Hollywood bland CGI, but reminds one of Gary Oldman's villain in the Lost in Space remake.

And still, Hope inspires just that: hope. Hong-jin dares to reimagine the creature-feature subgenre with blistering imagination. While it boasts similarities to Bong Joon Ho's The Host, Hope is its own multidimensional event. Everything feels interestingly backward, as we laugh at civilization's dysfunction while sympathizing with the ugly-as-sin visitors in need of a post-production makeover. It's overlong, tonally adrift at times, and for the billionth time, ain't winning any special effects awards—but somehow, Hope perseveres enough to sell Hong-jin wonder-seeking spectacle (behind the blood and guts).

Movie Score: 3.5/5