For all of the rip-roaring set pieces in Na Hong-jin’s creature feature Hope, there’s a scene at the halfway point that encapsulates everything that makes it so wildly entertaining. After a solitary monster has just torn its way through a small Korean mining town by the DMZ, an older ginseng farmer tells police officer Sung-ae (Hoyeon) that, actually, there’s more than one. He was in the nearby forest when he hid away from three gargantuan beasts patrolling for their next victim, captured in a prolonged suspenseful static shot. But this is all relayed through a wandering anecdote about how he almost died that day because of an unfortunate bout of uncontrollable diarrhea. Even in its ostensibly quieter moments, Hope is a riot.
Director Na returns a decade after his zombie mystery The Wailing with another genre-blending thriller that’s reportedly the most expensive Korean film ever made. You can see every single won on screen: mushroom cloud explosions litter the mountainous skyline; cars are thrown in the air like they’re weightless; and the walls of shopfronts are obliterated as if a giant has taken a bite out of them. It takes about an hour to finally see the creature that’s rampaging through Hope Harbor, though at first, police chief Bum-seok (Hwang Jung-min) suspects it’s a Siberian tiger that has mauled a poor cow on a country road. He soon realises the culprit is much bigger, and the film’s tension-filled first act follows the chief as he hunts down the elusive creature through the immense carnage of Lee Hwo-kyoung’s detailed production design.
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Then we see the monster: a sickly green, skeletal extraterrestrial played by a mo-capped Cameron Britton and rendered in janky CGI that only adds to the film’s bonkers charm. (Other aliens are portrayed by an unrecognisable Michael Fassbender, Alicia Vikander, and Taylor Russell.) This is straightforward, thematically featherlight, Spielberg-esque entertainment that sees Parasite DoP Hong Kyung-pyo stage some of the finest action filmmaking this side of Mad Max: Fury Road. (The closest element resembling a message is the town’s proximity to North Korea, with a knowing sign warning residents to “protect the nation from infiltration.”) Long tracking shots traverse Hope’s decimated alleyways, gallop with horses, and ride alongside a squad car in an astounding motorway chase. The jaw-dropping scale of it all puts most blockbusters to shame.
Hope deals in simple pleasures: the thrill of audacious, ever-escalating stunts, Hoyeon wielding military-grade weaponry, enough expletive-laden one-liners to have you add “shibal” to your own vernacular. And despite the sheer size, it maintains a narrow focus on a small ensemble, each determined character more incompetent than the last. The film’s dark humour delights in pitting the citizens of Hope Harbor against extraterrestrial forces they’re not remotely prepared for, but are brave/stupid enough to go guns-a-blazing anyway. Backstories are non-existent – but when it’s this much fun, there’s no need to explain it.
Just when you think those delirious two hours and forty minutes are over, Hope takes a whiplash-inducing turn, quite literally opening the story’s world to tee up a sequel. (Na announced that he’s already written it.) And maybe I should feel baffled by the sudden lore dump minutes before the credits roll, but it only left me eager for more.
