This article contains spoilers for “Hope” (2026)
Many large-budget films try to take as few risks as possible. The idea is that in doing so, the movie will appeal to a large audience and make a lot of money back.
“Hope” is not one of those movies.
Director Na Hong-jin’s latest feature film is a sci-fi action extravaganza and the most expensive in South Korean history, at around $46 million. It turns what would be a mid-budget movie by Hollywood standards into a big-budget spectacle.
The film follows a pair of police officers as they investigate and confront a supernatural monster terrorizing the small town of Hope Harbor. For about 90 minutes, “Hope” is a thrilling, perfectly executed monster movie with some genuinely spectacular action.
Unfortunately, the movie is 150 minutes long.
A brilliant beginning
For most of the first act, the film follows Go Bum-seok (Hwang Jung-min) as he tries to catch up to an unseen entity ravaging Hope Harbor. This is comfortably the best part of the movie.
Na Hong-jin’s direction shines in this section. He makes the brilliant decision to keep the monster off-screen for the majority of the sequence, letting us settle into Bum-seok’s perspective as the carnage unravels. Each corner could reveal the terrifying presence, each encounter builds tension, but ultimately he remains just behind.
Thankfully, the film’s quality isn’t reliant on the off-screen gimmick. Once the creature is finally revealed, the scares only grow.
The monster’s design is brilliantly human, looking just different enough to be unsettling while giving us a frame of reference. It moves blindingly fast, posing a more-than-significant threat, while also allowing for it to be out of control. From this moment forward, Bum-seok is no longer pushing forward; he’s running for his life.
Another genius decision regarding the monster is its vulnerability. It’s certainly difficult to kill, but it’s affected by guns and explosions. That gives the action more give-and-take than a one-note chase sequence.
The first act is perfectly paced monster madness that, had the credits rolled immediately after the creature’s defeat, would’ve made for a theatrical experience more than worth it.
The second and third acts don’t quite match up to par.
A meandering middle
After the carnage dies down, Hope Harbor is recovering from the wreckage, trying to gather information about what the creature is and where it came from. This sequence bounces between a few plot points. There’s a group of hunters investigating the forest for signs of the creature, while Bum-seok and his partner Lim Sung-ae (Jung Ho-yeon) search the town.
As the police realize there are more creatures in the forest, the hunters encounter their spaceship, revealing that the monsters are, in fact, aliens.
This section rounds out the supporting cast and gives the leads some additional characterization. It’s certainly not as high-octane as the opening, but it’s a largely worthwhile inclusion to the story.
There are moments that drag a little too long, and it takes a while to get back to the action we’ve come to expect from the movie by this point. But it plays an important part in setting up what comes next.
Unfortunately, what comes next is the worst part of the movie.
A floundering finish
Rather than try to build on what made much of the movie’s opening so great, “Hope” largely retraces its steps.
Several of the chase sequences feel strikingly similar to what happens in the first 90 minutes, and they drag on for far too long.
The final hour of the movie is essentially one long chase sequence combining the hunters, the cops and the aliens. It gets more and more absurd the longer it goes.
There are at least five separate moments where an alien is about to make a killing blow on one of the characters, only for them to be saved at the last minute by another hero. It makes what should be the most tense sequence incredibly predictable.
The chases are also edited in a way that sucks out much of the appeal. It’s obviously difficult to render both human actors and CGI aliens in the same shot, so “Hope” attempts to show them in separate moments.
The problem is, if we never see the pursuer and the prey at the same time, we have no idea how close they are to being caught.
This makes the chases feel disjointed and their conclusions feel abrupt. And because these characters have been saved so many times, no one feels like they’re in real danger.
Stakes are a big problem in the final third of this movie. In the opening set piece in Hope Harbor, no one felt safe. It truly felt like anyone could die at any time. During the final chases, though, our main quintet has such egregious plot armor that they feel invincible. Even when it seems like a character has died, the film brings him back in the final shot to set up a sequel.
The final act seemingly can’t commit to the choices that made its first act so fantastic.
The film ends on a bit of a whimper, hurt even more by the fact that the story isn’t really resolved in order to make way for an assumed part two.
But I almost hope that a sequel doesn’t come. Not because I wouldn’t watch it or because I think this creative vision should go unresolved, but because it would make this beautifully confusing movie even more indecipherable.
I had an absolute blast watching this movie, often because it was great, sometimes because it was alarmingly silly. I can confidently say I’ve never seen anything quite like it.
Despite all its flaws, “Hope” pulls absolutely no punches. It doesn’t hold your hand, nor does it try to get you to buy into its premise with cheap gimmicks. You’re either in, or you’re out.
For the most part, I was in.
