Directed by: Na Hong-jin
Distributed by: Neon
Written by Taylor Baker
65/100
Na Hong-jin’s “Hope” begins with Beom-seok (Hwang Jung-min)—a chief of police of questionable skill—accompanied by his cousin Sung-ki (Zo In-sung)—a somewhat mischievous local hunter—driving out of a quaint fishing village with an elderly population to investigate a dead cow in the road. After a fun back-and-forth between Beom-seok and Sung-ki and a few of his friends, where Beom-seok questions the legality of the arms the small band of men has brought to bear, the two separate, with Beom-seok heading alone back to the village concerned about a Siberian tiger while the small troupe heads north closer to the demilitarized zone and deeper into the wilderness.
The film fluidly transitions to long chase sequences as the creature that mutilated the cow—which is decidedly not a Siberian tiger—leaves disaster and dead bodies in its wake. With splendid production design and careful camera work, we follow a nervous Beom-seok up and down streets, through torn-open buildings, and under bridges. In this portion of the film, with the monster terrorizing the village still unseen, the film is at the height of its powers, and its comedic tone hasn’t yet begun to work to its detriment. So far, Beom-seok hasn’t been particularly heroic, hasn’t escaped near-death encounters that killed nearly everyone else, and hasn’t been excruciatingly lucky. Unfortunately, that all changes.
After long, beautiful chase sequences through the ruined village where Beom-seok finally corners the creature terrorizing his town in a structure, there’s a brief moment where we can barely see the monster coming up behind a man who had been helping Beom-seok minutes before, and in that moment it gives the impression of Goya’s best-known painting, ‘Saturn Devouring His Son.’ Then Beom-seok and a fellow villager open fire, and the monster that had been hidden around the bend, shown only by the destruction in its wake, comes on screen.
And it looks. Terrible.
Beom-seok somehow outruns a creature capable of going at least three times faster than him, survives being hit and slammed into poles and walls and carts after we’ve spent close to an hour watching him walk past the dead bodies of those killed by a similar strike. The film morphs from an action-horror to an action-comedy. Much of the rest of the runtime ramps up the silliness and violence, abandoning a controlled atmosphere and the use of dread. It seems to do this to become bigger and more explosive, but it has the opposite effect. That’s not to say that it becomes bad entirely either, as the narrative is still engaging enough after getting its hooks in us at the beginning with the dead cow in the road. But it had been operating at such a height that its descent to what it ultimately is is a letdown.
It’s disappointing to watch a great film and a filmmaker with such mastery devolve into the trappings of a superhero flick’s CG-heavy third act. Like most superhero flicks, it sets up a sequel instead of paying off the stakes it set. But it was a damn fun ride getting to the disappointment.
“Hope” Trailer
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