The Audacity of ‘Hope’

What might the Korean term be for “rip-snorter?” That’s what writer-and-director Na Hong-jin has delivered with “Hope,” a science fiction thriller that careens into action in its opening moments and maintains an exhilarating pace for two-and-a-half hours. Actually, make that almost two-and-a-half hours. The story gets muzzy as it reaches the conclusion and then shifts emphasis altogether. Is Mr. Na responsible for the detour or was it foisted upon him by the folks bankrolling the project?“Hope” makes a concerted effort to leave room for a sequel when a stronger version would’ve put on the brakes in service of a leaner and meaner entertainment. Which isn’t to say that Mr. Na’s movie isn’t entertaining. “Hope” is top-notch cinematic daredeviltry sustained by a breathless command of the medium and leavened by moments of genuine hilarity. It is also exhausting and, as it zooms forward, increasingly dazed and confused. What might have been a great action picture is, instead, a good time that has to be recommended with a caveat or two.“Hope” wears its influences on its sleeve. Ridley Scott’s “Alien” (1979) and its assorted sequels are precedents in terms of set design, and there is a tempered disasterism to the proceedings that hearkens to Robert Wise’s “The Day the Earth Stood Still” (1951). Mr. Jin’s frame of reference goes far afield from the otherworldly with chase scenes that could have been lifted from a Harold Lloyd comedy, and characters who might’ve peppered the byways of a Bud Boetticher oater, an Akira Kurosawa samurai adventure or a Warner Bros. cartoon.To be specific, Wile E. Coyote and the Roadrunner, particularly given the amount of frenetic backing-and-forthing that goes on along open highways, especially with a rookie cop at the wheel of a squad car, Sung-ae (a lithe and determined Hoyeon). Strange things are afoot in the rural township of Hope, not least among them economic tidings that seem to have decimated the place. Though surrounded by towering mountains and ample farmland, the place is weatherbeaten, ragged, abandoned and squalid. Abandon all hope ye who enter Hope.It’s a memo that not everyone received, particularly the beastie who slaughtered a bull and left its tattered remains in the center of a two-lane backdrop. The local police chief, Bum-seok (Hwang Jung-Min), is alerted to this out-of-the-ordinary incident by a cousin, a headstrong and rowdy Sung-ki (Zo In-sung). After which “Hope” takes two narrative paths in determining the nature of what’s bedeviling the township’s citizens: The first concentrates on the efforts of our officers of the law; the second on a ragtag bunch of goofball hunters. Both of them encounter beings of otherworldly strength, ravenous ferocity and uncommon swiftness.The age-old problem plaguing this kind of film is that the boogeymen, once seen, can be rendered less threatening because they invariably come up short to the reach of our imaginations. Here the problem is solved, perhaps inadvertently, by rickety CGI: There’s a distinct visual disconnect between the tangibility of the monsters and how convincingly they inhabit space with human actors. The special effects are, in other words, not seamless–internet wags are already crying foul–but their relative shortcomings key into the hyperbolic nature of Mr. Na’s aesthetic.It doesn’t hurt that the director’s tongue seems perpetually ensconced in his cheek. As heart-pounding and scary as the film might be, the proceedings are imbued with a sense of humor that is cheeky without calling too much attention to itself. Can you scream and laugh at the same time? Absolutely, and though the characters here are limited in scope, the actors use what little they’ve been given and then take it to the bank. Ms. Hoyeon and, especially, Mr. Zo seem to be having great fun even as they extend their powers beyond human ken. Purchase a bucket of buttered popcorn, extend a modicum of forgiveness, and sit yourself down for a trip.

The Audacity of ‘Hope’

The Audacity of ‘Hope’

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