‘Hope’ review: Too much and not enough

Na Hong-jin’s Hope is a refreshingly simple sci-fi action film with some thrilling moments and a whole lot of filler.

Pacing is a tricky thing in movies. Individual scenes can be stellar on their own, but the way they’re organized and played-out next to each other can either help or hurt a film’s overall energy. If you have a horror movie, you want to pepper your main monster into the script for little bursts of scares at just the right times. Action movies can have plenty of shootouts and fights, but you have to squeeze in some character moments and plot to smooth everything out.

If your movie has too much of one element, it can throw the pacing for a loop. You might think a 30-minute car chase would be fun, but it leaves little room for your story to develop an impact. Maybe you want to have your characters say some funny banter or a monologue. Just make sure they don’t take too much away from the action. This is a lesson that writer/director Na Hong-jin has to, sadly, learn the hard way with Hope.

The title refers to a quiet seaside village near the Korea Demilitarized Zone. Police Chief Beom Seok (Hwang Jung-min) is called to investigate a roadside cow that’s been damn-near cut to ribbons. Is it a bear? A tiger? Something else? Whatever it is, it’s now barreling through the village causing mass destruction. With that, Chief Seok recruits his cousin (Zo In-sung), another officer (Hoyeon), and a gaggle of other locals to track the beast and save anyone in its path. Fortunately everyone in the village happens to have carbine rifles and machine guns to lock, load, and let loose on the terror in their town.

Killing time.

Photo Credit: Elissa Federoff/Neon

The first thing to say about Hope is that it has absolutely no business being two hours and 40 minutes long. There is far too much inane dialogue and boring monster hunting that weighs down the movie’s energy. It starts by following the Jaws rule well enough by not showing its monster until the 35-minute mark. Though a good commitment to the bit, Hong-jin shows so many fake-outs and teases that you almost scream at the movie to, as Monty Python said, “GET ON WITH IT.” What’s worse is that every time we cut from the village to the locals hunting in the woods, the movie comes to a grinding halt as you wait for something to happen. Even when we do get our big reveal of what’s lurking in the trees, it’s not worth the near-interminable minutes of waiting.

Maybe that waiting would’ve been worth it if the dialogue was a bit sharper. Alas, there are only so many times you can watch confused people sweatily wondering what’s going on or yelling at each other to run away from the monster chasing. All that meandering takes up room in the movie for any character development or personality to come from the (admirably) committed performers. What you’re left with is a group of one-note characters confused by their situation or trying to escape it while the audience desperately waits for another action scene to start.

What’s worse is when the movie has to start explaining itself. Taking too long to get to its reveal is one thing, but Hope also doesn’t have anything original in its story. It’s a routine “monster invader” plot that drags itself out way too long. The monster designs look like H.R. Giger knockoffs from the Prometheus pre-production phase brought to life by CGI that occasionally look unfinished. There are a few chase scenes where the monsters look like they were plucked from a PlayStation 3 game made 15 years ago. And after nearly three hours of these holes and missed opportunities, the movie just…stops. Whether it’s to sequel bait or just because it’s out of story ideas, Hope cuts itself off at the legs without truly giving a satisfying resolution. It’s so sudden, it might as well be a jump scare.

Pedal to the metal.

Photo Credit: Elissa Federoff/Neon

To be fair, whenever the action starts, the movie shifts into a whole new gear. Hope features some of the most tense and exhilarating action you’ll find in a movie this year. Hong-jin and his team do a great job capturing the tense hustle of the characters when they’re running towards or away from the horrors. Whether it’s on foot, in a car, or even by horse, the movement is clear and crisp without a frame of shaky cam in sight. The car chases especially have the palpable energy and front-facing intensity of John Frankenheimer’s Ronin or Christopher McQuarrie’s Mission: Impossible work. Credit to the sound mixing team for making every gun shot, engine rev, and property destruction blast through the screen without ever being overbearing.

It helps that everything surrounding the action is impressive. The set design of the demolished village and the gargantuan trees in the forest gives Hope an otherworldly feel, like it’s taking place on a lost planet of some kind. Those sets also add to the creeping dread of the monsters, with one hiding in the abandoned darkness of the village and others looming between the trees stalking their human prey like the Predator alien. Unlike Adam Wingard’s recent unbalanced genre mash Onslaught, Hope has a few moments where horror and action go hand-in-hand as Hong-jin plays-out intense gun play while the monsters smash through scenery. Credit to all the actors too, as they show believable fear and intensity on their faces throughout the carnage going on around them.

The bottom line.

Though not one of the worst of the year by any stretch, Hope may be the most frustrating movie of 2026. There is plenty of potential for a visceral, engaging, tight two-hour rollercoaster of practical action and sci-fi thrills in this. Unfortunately, it’s all weighed down by bad dialogue, unpolished special effects, and a meandering plot that keeps hitting dead ends every time it starts to cruise. I’ve heard people compare Hope to Michael Bay, and that’s only partially correct. The implication is peak Michael Bay: explosive action, eye-popping visuals, and unstoppable swagger. The reality is closer to modern Michael Bay: overindulgent, underdeveloped, and something that runs out of gas faster than expected.

Hope is now playing in theaters everywhere. Watch the trailer below.

Images courtesy of Elissa Federoff/Neon.

Jon Winkler