15/09/2026

LYFE TUESDAY | SEPT 15, 2026

25

At 156 minutes, Hope stretches its thin characters and repetitive chases well beyond their welcome.

MOVIE REVIEW

Ű BY AMEEN HAZIZI

D IRECTOR Na Hong-jin’s Hope gives audiences plenty of reason to feel hopeful early on. The opening is strong, the mystery is intriguing and the first creature is downright haunting. Then the film spends so long repeating itself that disappointment eventually gives way to boredom. Hope has the ingredients for a terrific monster movie. Unfortunately, Na kept adding more to the film until a straightforward fight for survival becomes an overcomplicated science fiction mess. A strong start The small Korean town of Hope Harbour makes an excellent setting. Its old-fashioned surroundings and limited resources add to the monster movie atmosphere, with residents making do against something way beyond their understanding. Hwang Jung-min plays police chief Ko Bum-seok, who investigates the threat, while Jung Ho-yeon plays rookie officer Im Sung-ae. Meanwhile, local hunter Ko Sung-ki, played by Zo In-sung, follows the carnage into the surrounding forest. Hong Kyung-pyo’s cinematography is excellent. The dolly shots and extended takes are incredible, moving through the town’s chaos and taking the audiences along for the action. The first creature Va’migere, played by Cameron Britton, is the strongest visual. Tall, haunting and vaguely human, with ragged hair and terrifying rage, it resembles a titan from Attack on Titan . Its ability to throw projectiles accurately and change targets mid-chase makes it especially off-putting. This thing can think, which makes running from it considerably more frightening. Get to the point Even the opening, however, takes too long following Bum-seok around town while the monster always attacks just around the corner. The camerawork is impressive, but there is only so much wandering the story needs. After that, repetition becomes the film’s biggest problem. The same lines, jokes and curse words keep coming back. Characters run through the woods, then run through the woods again. Eventually, the action reaches a highway and finds another place to repeat itself. By the umpteenth chase, the danger has become boring. By the

0 Director: Na Hong-Jin 0 Cast: Hwang Jung min, Zo In sung, Jung Ho yeon, Michael Fassbender, Alicia Vikander, Taylor Russell, Cameron Britton, Eum Moon-suk, Lee Sang-hee, Im Hyun-sik. E-VALUE 5 ACTING 6 PLOT 4

All out of Hope o Too many chases, too little character drain this creature feature

alien leaders Ma’veyyo and J’aur, while Taylor Russell plays Ai’dovor. These later creatures are tall, gaunt and elegant, making their appearance strangely disconnected from the near-human Va’migere. Fassbender, especially, ends up doing some thoroughly ridiculous things with little worthwhile character work to justify his involvement. The infant’s connection to Va’migere also feels poorly communicated, given the creature’s apparent parental grief and the later focus on the infant apparently being Ma’veyyo and J’aur’s missing child. Then there is the technology. These aliens can travel between worlds and even shown mech suits in their crashed ship, yet frequently fight like animals or use spears and axes. The effects do not always help. Some shots look good but others are noticeably awkward, particularly when the creatures’ running appears out of sync with the surrounding footage. Enough already The highway chase is where patience finally runs out. Similar shots along what looks like the same stretch of road keep extending a sequence that desperately needs to end. Then a gigantic spacecraft crashes into a mountain, followed by alien exposition that forces a sequel setup into an already messy finale. The ending is so bleak that the earlier struggle feels almost pointless. Hope already had enough going on, but kept piling on more. The cinematography deserves a big screen. The film surrounding it barely justifies the time spent watching, making its selection for competition at Cannes all the more baffling. Even turning it into a streaming serial would struggle to make this much repetition worthwhile.

umpteenth repeated line, the dialogue starts sounding like the writers gave up on fleshing anyone out. The butcher shop sequence is particularly guilty of dragging a joke way beyond its lifespan. For a film whose trailer suggested something intense and serious, Hope spends too much time on comedy that goes nowhere. Characters worth caring about? Almost nobody is likeable enough to make these detours worthwhile. Bum-seok has moments that engage the audience, but neither Sung-ae nor Sung-ki develops into someone especially interesting. Much of the cast feels like background characters in a video game, programmed to shout and run. Their plot armour is ridiculous. Bum-seok gets thrown through the air into a wet market stall, while Sung-ki is sent crashing midair through several trees. Both survive

As police chief, Bum-seok (Hwang) spends much of Hope chasing danger or narrowly surviving it.

Aliens make things worse The move into science fiction weakens the original horror. Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander play

punishment that should leave them severely injured. Apparently, the creatures’ strength depends on whose name appears higher in the credits.

Zo’s Sung-ki heads into the woods as a hunter, only to find himself becoming the prey.

As rookie officer Im, Jung joins the desperate effort to defend Hope Harbour from its monstrous visitors. – ALL PICS FROM IMDB