“Hope,” the all-time great new action film from writer-director Na Hong-jin, is a glorious genre romp that contains more magnificent moments in its opening act than most do in their entire runtime.
It’s a lean, mean action thrill ride, kicking off with one of the best extended sequences in recent memory and proceeding to run with that energy for as long as it possibly can. It’s a consistently bloody yet still darkly hilarious horror movie, boasting plenty of creative and gruesome kills as well as playful jokes. It then even takes a turn into being a potential sci-fi epic, going for something that’s more unexpectedly galaxy-brained while managing to stick the landing with plenty of flair to spare. That it’s been something the director, who previously made the haunting horror “The Wailing,” has reportedly been thinking about for the better part of a decade only makes it that much more exciting to see it now in all its magnificent glory.
It’s also a film that requires being more than a little withholding about all that it throws at you so as to preserve the profound joy of seeing all the wild directions it takes us in. What can be said is that not only is it a monster movie, but it’s one of the best of its kind in recent memory. It’s a remarkably well-crafted film, with each action sequence so wonderfully choreographed, shot and acted that, for as long as many of them go on for, they never once feel like they’re dragging. Even in the occasional moments where the film can feel like it’s spinning its wheels ever so slightly when not in the midst of said action, the key group of characters is bursting with so much chaotic charisma that you’re more than happy to go along with all of it.
It’s also, without tipping anything off about how it all wraps up, very much only the first chapter of what one can only hope is more to come in the world of “Hope.” However, it still more than stands on its own, flying by despite running for nearly three hours. Not only do all the terrific technical elements make it a must-see action theatrical experience, but when it’s firing on all cylinders, it’s right up there with modern action classics like “Mad Max: Fury Road” while also remaining something special all its own.
The film, which premiered in competition at the Cannes Film Festival on Sunday, opens with the engagingly bumbling police chief Bum-seok (Hwang Jung-min) as he is called out to investigate a mysterious killing of livestock. After some brief yet effective character work between him and the locals involving some discussion about gun registration that will soon seem comically quaint, everything in the remote village of Hope Harbor will descend into chaos. Namely, there is something out there that is about to become a seemingly unstoppable wrecking ball that threatens to destroy anyone who is foolhardy enough to confront it.
This is where the first action sequence kicks off, and goodness, what a showstopper it already is. A triumph of production design, stunt choreography, visual effects and cinematography by the excellent Hong Kyung-pyo (who has done brilliant work on everything from “Parasite” to “Burning”), it takes us through the community in search of the monster that always seems just far off enough in the distance that we can’t yet see it. It’s refreshing to see the film be so patient in keeping the monster out of our sight, ensuring every moment of this opening becomes that much more terrifying. This restraint makes it so our mind fills everything in and invites us to keep looking deeper as Bum-seok frantically goes searching for the monster.
As he encounters obliterated street after obliterated street littered with corpses or rows upon rows of houses that have been reduced to splintery shells of themselves, the film is incredibly effective at making us feel the growing tension. Even when we see the actions of the monster, it’s initially only via a car being hurled from out of frame or an explosion off in the distance. It’s a classic example of how sometimes less can be more, offering what action cinema can be at its very best. Everything is so measured and tightly controlled that it only makes the chaos unfolding before us that much more captivating.
Even when the eventual full look we get of the monster can initially be a little jarring (with the visual effects leaving it feeling occasionally more awkwardly weightless), this is also the moment we get properly introduced to the film’s greatest asset: Hoyeon. Playing the second in command in the small police force, officer Sung-ae, she’s a foul-mouthed force of nature, holding the camera with such controlled poise and playful energy that you feel like you’ve just been properly introduced to a movie star on the same level as Choi Min-sik or Lee Byung-hun. That she makes a great joke about someone else looking like a movie star only makes it that much more cheeky when it’s she who has now more than cemented her status as one. She’s got presence in spades, kicking everything up a notch and stealing every scene she gets from there forward.
And there is a lot from there forward. Once the initial crisis is addressed and there is a tentative tranquility, things slow down for a bit before ramping up when the characters realize there is much more they’re going to have to address. That it does so partly via an extended story that’s defined by what is essentially a long, escalating poop joke ensures that, for all the attention paid to craft, the film doesn’t take itself too seriously. It’s this consistent comedic spark that ensures “Hope” remains light on its feet just as it keeps wrong-footing us, going from a darkly funny autopsy sequence in one moment to a drawn-out nightmare of a battle in the forest to a car chase to end all car chases in the end.
When it then draws to a close with the characters at their lowest, landing one last grand, almost cosmic joke, you’re still left with an exhilarating desire for whatever else Hong-jin and company could cook up next. In their capable hands, you not only believe there could be more greatness ahead, but, in a festival of ups and downs, you find a regained hope for the continued life there is to be found in cinema.
Neon acquired “Hope” prior to its Cannes premiere.
