Movies are many things, of course, but one of the things that makes so much of cinema tick is the experiential feeling you get while watching a film. Films can cultivate deep intellectual thought and introspection, and that’s part of why, through peaks and valleys, the artistry in movies will always connect with audiences. There are also films that come up now and then that can leave you truly confused in sheer ambition; a movie deemed a risk-defying inspiration or a pure creative misfire. A film that leaves you asking “what the hell am I watching” at every turn. Na Hong-jin’s sci-fi blockbuster epic Hope slots right into this description in the best way possible.

Hope is all gas and no brakes, fully reveling in the maximalist absurdity of all of its 157 minutes while rivaling some of the action movie greats of the 21st century. The scale of Hope’s maximalist efforts shows in both relentless adrenaline and wild tonal shifts across its jumpy, multi-perspective story structure, but Na helms the film’s insane wavelength with such control that attention never wavers, even through the film’s most questionable storytelling decisions. 

Pure gonzo action filmmaking that would leave Michael Bay in bewilderment, Hope will leave your jaw dropped just as much as it will melt your brain with the realities of what you’re witnessing. It’s a rip-roaring, balls-to-the-walls action and genre onslaught of colossal proportions that should put most modern blockbusters to shame. 

Our setting is Hope Harbor, a tiny South Korean village where police chief Bum-seok (Hwang Jung-min) is called in by his hunting cousin Sung-ki (Zo In-sung) to investigate a ravaged bull in the middle of the road that has seemingly been clawed to death by an unknown creature. Was it a bear? An escaped tiger? 

These are the questions that linger over Hope’s first hour or so as Sung-ki breaks off with his crew to investigate the forest while Bum-seok messages officer Lim Sung-ae (Hoyeon) to call for backup while he heads back into town to help civilians and investigate. After discovering multiple dead bodies and crumbled buildings across the streets of the village, it doesn’t take long to realize these protagonists are against a creature not of this earth. What follows is a world-shattering disaster of insane proportions as the clock ticks down to stopping the dangerous creatures by any means necessary, an adventure that will change our heroes’ view of their place within the universe.

Na is no stranger to the inner workings of the multiple genres at hand in Hope’s near 3-hour runtime, with the mysterious descent into pure terror found in The Wailing (2016). But Hope shifts through all sorts of genres and subgenres as it goes on. The first hour completely plays into the unknown nature of the creatures, an unseen force of nature wreaking havoc and crushing any remaining civilians with leftover debris and thrown cars. Bum-seok acts as our main point of view through the leftover chaos. 

Once the creatures are unveiled, things veer into the most adrenaline-pumping action you’ve ever seen, followed by the occasional odd detour into sci-fi pulp about these creatures’ origins, before the cycle repeats. It’s a bizarre blend of goosebump-ridden horror with insanely gripping action that could easily become tiring, but Na knows how to keep the ever-growing escalation of Hope’s stakes at a completely mesmerizing level. Nearly every element is so gleefully unhinged, ever enrapturing in its boldness, both in camera movements and pure lunacy. It’s like a never-ending electric wave that invigorates at every turn.

The action itself is enough to make anyone’s mind combust into thousands of pieces. The situations our heroes find themselves in are already insane enough: foot chases and shootouts through trashed roads, slo-mo money shots of Hoyeon blasting away monsters, riding on horseback with a gun in hand. The aura is there, and the hype matches it perfectly. 

From every tracking shot following someone running for their life to whip-pan transitions following riveting car chases, the deep immersion is never lost. It’s the best of both worlds,matching a sheer intensity of mass scale that reaches Bayhem levels of prowess with an elegant dynamism that evokes a similar feeling to Mad Max: Fury Road. At its core, Hope is a non-stop thrill ride through all its chaos, with expansive tracking shots straight out of a video game and drone shots to bolster everything it’s working with.

Even the creatures, who are admittedly hampered by some pretty rough-looking CGI, still have a relatively foreboding presence to them, especially early on. They move so fast in their mass destruction that there is never a moment where the stakes aren’t extremely palpable. There’s never a moment where you feel the main characters are completely safe from death, and that only adds to the sheer intensity of each action scene, as does Michael Abels’ utterly riveting score.

Hope will be polarizing because of its idiosyncrasies, but the most testing aspects are the film’s shifting character perspectives and tonal inflections. Humorous dialogue in what’s otherwise the bleakest of circumstances isn’t new for Na, as there’s a shocking amount of bumbling comedic bits in the first half of The Wailing than you would expect, but it’s taken to a whole other level here. 

There are cheesy one-liners, situational comedy, and even an extended monologue about someone taking a dump in the woods as they witness the creatures. That, on top of the two storylines following our main groups of characters, can slightly stall such invigorating momentum. Even in its messiest moments, though, Hope rips out of the absurdity to become a unique experimental event, and its slight flaws never break the immersion. It also helps to be so playful with its inherently silly nature — it’s a rarity when the laughs or ridiculousness don’t hit.

As fun as it is fully maximalist, Hope is a blockbuster thrill ride like no other, fully reveling in its genre quirks and electric setpieces. Na Hong-jin crafts the type of film that will leave those in pure bewilderment by the time its credits roll; whether it’s a shock of pure amazement or disgust will depend on the viewer. But in a film world where risk can be futile,  Hope’s rash boldness leaves a lasting impression of sheer, rip-roaring awesomeness. 

Review Courtesy of Joshua Mbonu

Feature image credit to NEON