With “The Chaser”, “The Yellow Sea” and “The Wailing”, Na Hong-jin has established himself with just three films as one of the most influential South Korean directors of the moment, who can now almost be mentioned in the same breath as Bong Joon-ho (“Parasite”) and Park Chan-wook (“Oldboy”). You never know where you stand with his films: they can develop in a completely new direction in the middle or even branch out into completely different genres. This is no different with the wild sci-fi action monster horror comedy “Hope”, with which he returns in competition at the Cannes Film Festival in 2026 after ten years.
The supposedly most expensive South Korean film of all time made headlines in advance – among other things due to the participation of the Hollywood couple Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander. But you shouldn’t expect too much from her participation – but you should expect too much from the rest of the film. In its sensational first hour, Hope is an absolutely breathtaking delight, with tons of action scenes like you’ve never seen before! Later, the film is slowed down a bit by some lengths and alien monsters that take some getting used to, but even these weaknesses don’t change the fact that this genre mix with “Squid Game” star Jung Ho-yeon in her first film role is an absolute must-see spectacle for every blockbuster fan.
“Squid Game” star Jung Ho-yeon immediately becomes an audience favorite in her first film role.
It all starts with a badly mauled cow that the poacher Sung-ki (Zo In-sung) and his hunting party find in the middle of the country road near the small town of Hope Harbor. Even the police chief Bum-seok (Hwang Jung-min), who was brought in, cannot explain what was responsible for this. Even a tiger that miraculously migrated here from Siberia across the mined border with North Korea is being considered as a possibility. But when Bum-seok returns shortly afterwards to the small village with mainly older residents, it dawns on him that he is dealing with an even more unusual (and dangerous) threat.
A path of destruction marks the path the monster has taken. The police chief rushes after him. Again and again he is presented with new sights of horror with completely destroyed shops and people killed in horrible ways. He constantly hears the shocking rumble of the creature and the gunshots of the village community, which is surprisingly well-armed for him. He has to watch several times how the human attackers are unable to do anything and are instead thrown away with pure force or buried under cars. But Bum-seok always comes a little too late to get a look at the monster himself…
Breathless through Hope Harbor
…at least in the first 45 minutes. That’s how long it takes for the film’s hero, and therefore the audience, to first see a single, huge hand and, shortly afterwards, the first of several extraterrestrial creatures that terrify a village in “Hope”. Until then, Na Hong-jin has taken us on a hectic and overwhelming hunt, which now continues for another quarter of an hour in the fight with the monster. The opening 60 of the 160 minutes of “Hope”, with their introduction that immediately arouses curiosity and the chase that follows, are a unique experience in which tension and action go hand in hand.
Interspersed with a few brief moments early on that reveal that Sung-ki and his hunting buddies have picked up the trail of at least one more monster in the woods, we follow the police chief as he follows the devastation left behind in his village. One intense scene follows the next in which Bum-seok has to approach a corner or door and you expect to now face the monster. In between there are repeated bangs and people run after them, while people die in the distance and new images of devastation reveal themselves.
The monster could be lurking around every corner: Cop Bum-seok (Hwang Jung-min) is searching his village.
The action is deliberately not elegantly choreographed, but rather raw, loud, physical and confusing. You begin to feel the protagonist’s disorientation and increasing exhaustion and can understand how, in between all the running, screaming, shooting and stumbling, quite fatal wrong decisions are made. Things finally escalate when Jung Ho-yeon enters the screen. Her first of many great performances as young police officer Sung-ae, who comes to the aid of her boss, was rightly met with loud applause at the press screening in Cannes. In this opening hour, however, you only take a breath to laugh out loud several times as the constant threat is repeatedly broken up by dry, black humor.
“Hope” is always very, very funny, which helps the somewhat slower 100 minutes that follow. A wonderfully rambling diarrhea anecdote from an elderly villager is pure comedy gold. It’s just as beautiful Running gagthat apparently everyone in this town is armed to the teeth: As soon as the situation escalates, not only hunting rifles are brought out, but also arsenals of weapons that look more like a paramilitary vigilante group than a sleepy coastal community. What you have at home when North Korea is only a few minutes away – even if there are a few other places, so Sung-ae sometimes has to hop on a rickety bicycle to deliver an important message.
(Unfortunately) things just can’t go on like this
However, “Hope” does not maintain the level of the outstanding first hour. The brief downshift to give the story the space it needs makes sense at the beginning, but leads to tough passages as the game progresses. A long-drawn-out autopsy does have a few absurd ideas, but it seems to be preparing for a possible sequel rather than contributing much to this film. In addition, the chronology of the three parallel storylines involving police chief Bum-seok, his colleague Sung-ae and hunter Sung-ki does not always seem consistent. Here the film all too often sacrifices its internal logic to convey dramaturgical information to the audience.
But even the weaker second half has enough sequences that show what an exceptional director is at work here. When wild skirmishes gradually develop in the forest, it doesn’t quite have the brilliance of the beginning, but it does offer hectic, brutal and gripping action again. When people and monsters break through the thicket and panic dominates, the feverish intensity of the opening returns – especially when all the storylines finally come together and the high-speed chase continues on the street.
Later there is action in the forest – even with horses!
But despite all the praise, we have to talk about the elephant or the aliens in the room. They take more than getting used to. The CGI of the creatures is not completely convincing, the design seems rather strange. The author of these lines managed to come to terms with it quite quickly. Especially when you first appear in the middle of the hunt, you are already overwhelmed by the overwhelming demands and panic that have already gripped you for a long time. Only as the film progresses do you become more aware of the artificiality of the creatures because there are then more appearances in which the Hollywood stars involved also come into play. The fact that a background story is later touched on for the newcomers from another world may be a bit unnecessary and contains a few unintentionally funny moments.
However, it’s less disturbing than Na Hong-jin’s decision not to complete the suddenly completely new subplot, but to use it as a teaser for an even bigger sci-fi story. In the end, “Hope” feels incomplete and leaves you a bit perplexed. Na Hong-jin revealed in interviews before the world premiere that he actually had a whole trilogy in mind. But does the exceptional director, who has reinvented himself with every film so far, really want to give the starting signal for a classic franchise with “Hope”? Or is the abrupt ending and the resulting lack of closure just a final, dark joke by the filmmaker? Even the great mid-credits scene doesn’t resolve this question.
Conclusion: “Hope” is a wild, powerful and wonderfully idiosyncratic genre colossus! The first hour is sensational, the CGI of the alien monsters takes some getting used to and the second half is far less compelling. But Na Hong-jin’s comeback to the cinema after a ten-year break offers so much tension, dark humor and brilliantly staged chaos that you can still have a lot of fun with this exuberant monster madness.
We saw “Hope” at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival, where the film had its world premiere as part of the official competition.