Hope
When a mysterious creature creates mayhem in a South Korean village, then begins to hunt the hunters who try to track it in the forest, police chief Bum-seok (Hwang Jung-min, "The Wailing") and officer Sung-ae (Hoyeon, TV's 'Squid Game') are called upon to quell the chaos in "Hope."
Laura's Review: B+
Rural South Korea, gingseng farmers, hunters, mutilated animals and dark humor return in director Na Hong-Jin's ("The Wailing") latest, a high adrenaline, epic action thriller featuring pulse pounding chase sequences, impressive practical effects and motion capture alien performances from Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander. The film runs a little long at 2 hours, 40 minutes but has the good sense to save the best for last.
Called out to a road leading into a forest by a group of hunters led by his cousin Sung Ki (Zo In-sung, the upcoming "Possible Love"), Bun-seok doesn't know what to make of what they've found - a prize bull scored across its body with deep claw marks several feet long that no amount of speculation can account for. Then a hunter mentions that Hae-sul (Im Hyun-sik) told them a tiger comes down from North Korea every few years and if Hae-sul said it it must be true and that 'everyone' knows about it. Bum-seok remains skeptical, rightly so, as his staff don't know what he's talking about and we'll see those hunters having a laugh after he leaves.
But Bum-Seok's day is about to get much worse, Sung-ae telling him that multiple calls have come in from Hope Harbor's village and its bridge. He arrives to streets strewn with debris and bloodied bodies outside gaping holes in local businesses. Spying one of his officers at the end of a street, Bum-Seok begins to approach only to be horrified when a vehicle is lobbed at the man, crushing him. Panicked, he'll shoot at movement beneath a bridge only to discover a survivor outfitted with bow and arrows, the two venturing back into the town where Bum-seok's hysterical trigger happiness results in the critical wounding of the owner of a butcher shop, its last survivor out of a dozen.
One of Hong-Jin's funniest running gags is that absolutely everyone in Hope Harbor seems to own a stash of illegal automatic weapons, as do the truckful of local elders Bum-seok teams up with to hunt 'the monster,' but it won't be until Sung-ae screeches into town in a squad car that we finally see the creature, a startling humanoid at least 10 feet tall with an incredible reach, double jointed ankles and clawed feet which can run at incredible speeds on all fours. With Bum-seok still on foot and vulnerable, Sung-ae begins firing away at the monster, switching to a rocket launcher when it doesn't slow down, taking off one of its legs, but when Bum-seok jumps in and Sung-ae gets even with their target, he hesitates, eye to eye contact revealing tears and a look of despair on the humanoid's face. Finally, at Sung-ae's urging, he shoots, killing the creature we will learn is Va’migere (Cameron Briton).
Breathing easier, Bum-seok returns to the station while Sung-ae heads to the hospital to help with the injured. He'll disbelieve a story told by mentally challenged taxidermist Yung Bae (Eum Moon-Suk) about killing a monster, four feet tall, green and slimy, with one shot until he heads out to the man's home to see it. While Sung-ae's patching up Hae-sul, she'll learn the man saw several of these monsters in the woods days earlier while suffering a bout of diarrhea he attempts, and fails, to control. Meanwhile, after discovering an abandoned hunting camp with two horses, the hunters in the woods have come across a crashed spaceship and hear an alien speak. J’aur (Alicia Vikander), a regal female figure with antlers on her back and arms is being protected by Ma’veyyo (Michael Fassbender), a towering alien who changes his appearance while running and who will be relentless chasing down these men.
If it took a long time for the police chief to recognize his enemy in "The Wailing," so it will be with Bum-seok here, whose realization of what might be happening and that it could have been entirely preventable if not for the lesser aspects of human nature, arrives after life as he's know it has been obliterated. But as he's exploring higher minded themes, Hong-Jin orchestrates amazing action sequences, Sung Ki fleeing from Ma’veyyo on horseback, a scene which outdoes "Return of the Jedi's" speeder chase several times over, then getting him out onto an elevated coastal highway as Bum-Seok's squad car, driven by Yung Bae, attempts to pull up to him as Sang-ae hangs out a back window taking aim at Ma’veyyo. It is positively thrilling, hold-your-breath filmmaking.
Hwang Jung-min keeps us invested in the overwhelmed chief, who continues pressing on despite his well justified terror, but it is Hoyeon, in her first film role, who steals the show as the pedal-to-the-metal officer hell bent on revenge for the slaughter of her community (the actress learned how to drive a manual stick shift to pull off that incredible driving). Also notable is Korean heartthrob Zo In-sung, equally confrontational with the aliens while catching Sung-ae's eye. The production is top notch, cinematographer Hong Kyung-pyo ("The Wailing") using all manner of vehicles, some capable of traveling 200 m.p.h, to keep up with the action, his work fluid. Production designer Lee Hwokyoung ("The Wailing") will make you believe an entire town has been decimated and composer Michael Abels's ("Get Out") score gets your blood racing. If he wishes, Na Hong-Jin has left the door open for a sequel.
"Hope" isn't exactly what we're left with at the end of the film, but it is a major thrill ride that also pokes our proclivity to fear 'the other' in the eye.
Neon releases "Hope" in theaters on 9/9/26.
