‘Hope’ Review:Na Hong-Jin’s blockbuster Aliens v South Koreans -Cannes

Much has been written about this year’s Cannes Film Festival being ignored by studios and crowd-pleasing blockbuster type movies, in favor of the more familiar auteur driven quieter films. Well, fasten your seat belts. Cannes just unveiled Hope, a sci fi Alien monster mash from South Korean director Na Hong-Jin that never lets up for a minute of its two hour and 40 minute running time and out Hollywood’s anything of its kind made by Hollywood. And guess what? Cannes not only put it in the official selection, they also have it in competition, a rare film of this kind to get that kind of instant cred from the festival .

Director Na is however no stranger to the Croisette as this is the fourth of his films to premiere here in various sections from Midnight to Certain Regard, but it is his first in the main competition, and first since 2016 and The Wailing which dealt with demonic possession and serial murders in a rural South Korean town. Hope now takes it further in dealing with an Alien invasion from the planet Gh’ertu crash landing in a similarly rural South Korean town, Hope Harbor, and all hell being unleashed as the otherworldly visitors represent all kinds of shapes and class divisions from that planet and each gets a spotlight as the locals go loco and set out to destroy them all without asking questions.

However the first 45 minutes offer perhaps other reasons for the strange going-ons in Hope being uncovered , first with the discovery of the brutal death of the town’s prized bull, but that is just the beginning as Police Officer Bzum-Seok (Hwang Jung-Min) sets out to investigate , along with foul mouthed officer Sung-We (Hoyeon), and then other hunters joining in the search, along with a dopey taxidermist (Yung Bae) . At first someone suggests the culprit may be a legendary tiger on the loose, but it soon becomes apparent this is bigger than that as the whole town appears to have been trashed by this “creature”, humans are dead, cars are crashed, and the tension ratchets up to a fever pitch even though we only see the faces of the hunters for the first 45 minutes, not the hunted until a local is pulled back by a very imposing claw on their neck. Then finally the big reveal, a Predator look-alike, and a very tall one who seems part human, part lizard as the first protracted set piece of battles between Koreans v Alien begins between him and a hunter , Sung Ki (Zo In-Sung), This leathery guy just won’t give up, or as Sung -ae says later on of these hard to vanquish vistors, “mother f*cker don’t die”.

As the first hour point however the tide shifts and after a victory of sorts, the bad news comes that there are others out there and they don’t look like this guy. The fact is there is little character development going on in this script written by the director because all these Koreans have a single purpose, to rid themselves of a very big problem, and so in essence the whole movie becomes one giant protracted chase. And what a chase it is! In fact the highlight, coming near the conclusion is simply a spectacular car/horse/alien run for the roses down a deserted highway with Sung-Ki riding the horse next to the car, followed by another alien who could give a Kenyan a run for his money in the NY Marathon. It gets richer and crazier from there.

There can be no doubt Director Na is a master at this stuff, and the motion capture work is comparable to Avatar which keeps winning Oscars for doing this kind of thing. Making use of a starry cast including Michael Fassbender, Alicia Vikander, Taylor Russell, and Britton as the key Aliens featured, the former three from the royal family of Gh’ertu, they all play cooly designed and imposing characters from another world, and they speak the special language. This is ironically where the humanity comes into play as they seem a whole lot more civilized than the humans stalking them without wondering if they really are the enemy. It adds a layer of social meaning to the film in a current world that looks at immigrants as interlopers who must be deported.

Hong Kyung-Pio’s splendid cinematography, Micheal Abel’s huge orchestral score, Kim Hanjoon’s ace visual effects, and Yoo Sang Seoob’s impressive stunt coordination all deliver on a level Hollywood might envy, and likely at a tenth of the cost.

And , you guessed it, this thing is nicely set up for an inevitable sequel.

Producers are Na Hong-Jin, Saemi Kim, Saerom Kim.

Title: Hope

Festival: Cannes – Official Competition

Distributor: Neon

Director/Screenplay: Na Hong-Jin

Cast: Hwang Jung-Min, Hoyeon, Zo In-Sung, Yung Bae, Michael Fassbender, Alicia Vikander, Taylor Russell, Cameron Britton.

Running Time: 2 hours and 40 minutes