ⓒCourtesy of Neon
They are too small to be proper kaiju, but they are too large and weird-looking to be human. Whatever they are, they are Ko Bum-seok’s problem. As the police chief of Hope Harbor, it is his job to serve and protect. However, he is not trained to fight monsters. Fortunately, his town lies not too far from the Demilitarized Zone, which presumably explains why the station holds such a powerful armory. Chief Ko needs all of that firepower in Na Hong-jin’s Hope, which opens today in theaters.
Initially, Chief Ko assumes he has a wild animal on his hands, but this is no tiger (nor is it a boating accident). Ko’s cousin Ko Sung-ki and his hunting cronies intend to track the strange beast, following its trail of death and destruction. However, when the Chief returns to Hope Harbor, he finds the town under siege from another monstrous creature. The Chief tries to call in back-up, but all regional first-responders have already been dispatched to nearby forest fires. 
ⓒCourtesy of Neon
At least he can rely on Im Sung-ae, his only competent officer. Her colleague, the pompous Mayor’s lazy, entitled relative, conveniently disappears during the chaos, but Im gathers up the station’s military-grade arms and hits the streets, where she reconnects with Chief Ko.
Frankly, the scenes of Ko and Im, racing through Hope Harbor’s winding throughway, pulling tight U-turns, while firing off explosive rounds might be the most exhilarating monster-hunting since Cameron’s Aliens. Unfortunately, the backstory behind the creatures turns out to be disappointingly derivative. At its essence, Na’s screenplay boils down to a very familiar story, but his execution juices it up on steroids.
Na also incorporates a gleefully subversive and even scatological sense of humor. Perhaps the most memorable scene involves no wild stunt work or special effects. Instead, Hae-sul, a decidedly rustic local forager tells Im a devilishly funny (and disgusting) account of his monster sighting.
ⓒCourtesy of Neon
As usual, Hwang Jung-min brings his trademark manic energy to “Hope” as Chief Ko. In some ways, the monster rampage represents the last straw that finally breaks down the grin-and-bear-it lawman’s professional reserve. (Of course, he is still not as nutty as the creepy shaman he portrays in Na’s previous film, the chilling The Wailing.)
For a nice bonus, Jung Ho-yeon (best known as the North Korean defector player on Squid Game) earns favorable comparisons to Sigourney Weaver’s Ripley as the resourceful Im. Even with subtitles, established Korean TV veteran Im Hyun-sik delivers probably the funniest one-scene supporting performance of the year. Zo In-sung similarly embraces Na’s lunacy playing Ko’s hard-headed cousin. Two major western stars also make pivotal cameo appearances, but explaining the circumstances would be spoilery.
ⓒCourtesy of Neon
Like many would-be franchises, Hope openly promises more to come, but Na allows viewers absolutely no feeling of closure. His core characters merely rush off to another encounter after surviving (more or less) an uncomfortably close shave. Frankly, Hope might have been better suited to a streaming series format, were it not for its lofty production budget—reportedly the greatest in Korean history.
The destructive mayhem and the gross-out humor is wildly entertaining. That is rather fortunate, since Na clearly has much more in mind for these characters. Despite the 160-minute running-time, do not rush out of the theater too quickly, because there is a mid-credits stinger that holds significance for potential sequels. It is a lot, but it is also jolly good fun. Recommended for creature feature fans, Hope opens today (9/9) in theaters.
Grade: B+
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Here’s the trailer of the film.