Hope
Hope is everything one could possibly want out of a monster movie, and then it just keeps being more things. A massive Korean (with English subtitles) sci-fi spectacle, it is loaded with action, suspense and surprises. The story is fairly basic, starting with a town being destroyed by a mysterious monster, evolves into a mission of discovery, then explodes into an even crazier fight. Every phase of this is given ample room to develop, becoming bigger and wilder as it goes.
It does drag in that middle section, as the characters wander around and argue. And the last half hour is very uneven. Still there is just enough depth here to get past the rough patches. We learn enough about the people to at least get mildly invested in their survival. This is unexpectedly intimate, keeping things at ground level. That is, until the conclusion, when things take a chaotic turn.
Hope (150 minutes, plus a mid-credit scene) is quite the undertaking. It is impressive how it takes a common genre concept and turns it into something that feels different. Writer/director Na Hong-jin has put together a bunch of elements audiences will be familiar with and puts them each on display with great skill. This is tremendous popcorn entertainment on a large scale and should be seen on a big screen, so the full scope of what he has done can be properly appreciated.
Something strange is happening in the small village of Hope Harbor. Police Chief Ko Bum-Seok is investigating when all hell breaks loose and the citizens must band together to stop a large monster from killing everybody.
Most of this is like a cross between an invasion story and a war movie. Something dangerous is creating havoc, but the people don’t flee. They fight. The opening section mostly consists of Bum-Seok following the destruction and the sounds of gunfire as he moves toward the unseen beast. Trucks filled with gun-toting villagers pass, screaming instructions. He simply keeps running. It goes on a bit too long, yet, once the creature makes its appearance, things get tense. The first chase sequence in the movie is very good.
There is another subplot, centering on Ko Sung-ki and his friends as they go into the woods in search of answers to what is happening in their town. This material is not so compelling. It takes a long time for them to find anything. When they finally do, it is pretty cool, though it leads to an underwhelming battle. That, thankfully, is followed-up by another really good chase sequence, once the two main groups of characters intersect.
Unlike a lot of modern sci-fi, the action in Hope is easy to track. Hong-jin gives us a chance to see what is happening, where and how, which makes it all more dramatic. While he does end up giving us too much of a good thing, overstuffing it to the point where it almost feels like its own sequel, and then spends its last ten or so minutes seemingly setting up an actual sequel, the really good far outweighs the bad.
There are a lot of cool ideas. Maybe it focuses on too many things and rushes through the potentially intriguing parts of the investigation. Yet the monster parts truly work. This is essentially two movies in one, however, at least one and a half of those are definitely worth seeking out.
4 out of 5
Cast:
Hwang Jung-min as Ko Bum-Seok
Zo In-sung as Ko Sung-ki
Jung Ho-yeon as Im Sung-ae
Lee Sang-hee as Ahn Nak-yeon
Written/Directed by Na Hong-jin
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