Hope (2026)

Because it was directed by Na Hong-jin, the mastermind behind The Wailing, one of the best movies of 2016, and marketed as the most expensive movie in South Korean history, I was excited to see Hope. However, despite it being one of the most visually impressive action movies I’ve ever seen, everything else fell short of my expectations.

The movie follows a group of hunters led by Sung-ki (Zo In-sung), and the police chief Bum-seok (Hwang Jung-min) from a small harbor village near the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) as they investigate a mysterious creature wreaking havoc in their community. Believing the threat is a tiger, the chief investigates the village, while the hunters search the forest. I watched the film believing it was a standalone story, and I ended up disappointed by everything except the exquisite camerawork and high-speed, adrenaline-fueled action. Afterward, I discovered that Na Hong-jin plans a trilogy, with Hope as the first installment, and my disappointment only deepened.

The pacing is the first noticeable major issue, especially in the first half of the movie. Before the audience even discovers that the creature is a humanoid alien rather than a tiger, we are subjected to a good half hour of people frantically chasing and shooting at nothing across the screen. The characters see the monster, but it remains completely hidden from the viewer, a directorial choice that quickly becomes tiresome and frustrating. And while this choice works very well in a slow-burn, atmospheric folk-horror such as The Wailing, it feels ill-suited for a high-speed science fiction epic.

Meanwhile, the hunters discover that there are multiple aliens in the forest, all of which look entirely different from the one in the village and from each other. This is another puzzling scriptwriting choice; the audience is excluded from learning why these creatures vary so drastically. Furthermore, the movie leaves us in the dark about why they are even on Earth to begin with. What could’ve been a fascinating sci-fi mystery turns out to be just a frustratingly hollow monster hunt.

It’s been said that the ellipses, as well as the word “dude,” should not be used in professional writing. That being said…dude, this was awesome.

Korea has had a long and underrated history of monster movies, from old-school classics like Yonggary, Monster from the Deep and Pulgasari, to twenty-first century horrors like The Host and Train to Busan. In an era where Korean cinema and Korean culture in general has taken a strong root in the American consciousness, more of this is deeply appreciated.

Hope follows the more recent Korean monster fare in elevating its game. Gone are the days where the sole reason to buy a ticket is to see someone in a rubber suit destroy miniature buildings - even if that alone is a valid reason to see a movie. Hope is a masterclass in suspense, delivering both thrills and depth, and should be seen on the big-screen.

There is another monster movie that Hope should be compared to, and that is the 2008 cult classic Cloverfield. While Cloverfield was a big Hollywood project and Hope is a smaller festival film, the two share a lot of similarities. They both feature extremely intense sequences, have very relatable characters, focus the perspective on the humans far more than the monsters, and are super inventive.

Hope is jam-packed with great, original ideas. When people die in this movie, they get annihilated. Even some of the things they survive are particularly intense. Director Na Hong-jin’s imagination stretches beyond the destruction, though, and there are sequences and shots in this film that will remind the audience why they like to go to the movies.

Reaction to this film has not been unanimous, and there are points of contention. The most common complaint is the special effects. There is no question that the special effects are jarring, unique, and sometimes even come off as amateurish. But, whether intentional or not, the bizarreness of those effects works wonder to make the monsters much more outlandish and alien. It should also be noted that this review is about the theatrical release of the film, and it is possible that the effects were worse when this film played at the Cannes Film Festival.