Hope delivers the exact type of genre cinema gumbo you’d want from South Korea’s most expensive blockbuster!
Hope is not what you’re expecting. In most ways, that is a great thing, such as becoming one of the best action films of 2026 in its opening minutes. In a few other ways, it’s a bit of a head scratcher, such as kinda derailing its own narrative in its final minutes. Even as it does shift genres and tones and perspectives, Hope’s highs are consistently great enough to carry through it more “unique” elements.
Hope opens on a small South Korean border town, sometime in the late 20th century, that is about to be dropped into pure chaos. Following the proceeding day of both police chief Beom Seok (Hwang Jung-Min) and hunter Ko Sung-Ki (Zo In-Sung), both men find themselves fighting off creatures unlike any they have encountered before, using their wits to survive against enemies that can’t seem to be killed.
I keep it vague because there is so much under the hood with Hope. Arguably, it feels like 3 movies, structured in a way that each hour feels like its own set narrative. Every hour or so, the stakes are reset, and we are once again off to the races as the tension and action ratchets back up. Within those hours the tone can shift wildly, from rollicking adventure, to gross out comedy, to out and out horror film, to cosmic scifi, to even a serial killer thriller. It is a full kitchen sink affair as every type of genre is thrown into a blender, which, for the most part, works like gangbusters.
Bold statement; the first hour of Hope is one of my favorite films of the decade. A masterfully designed creature feature, the entire arc around the town invasion is one of the best monster movies I’ve ever seen. The way the tension is slowly built is perfect; watching as Chief Seok follows along in the wake of the monster’s destruction, slowly getting closer and closer to the actual creature, seeing the first hand power of it, before actually coming face to face with it. It follows the Jaws structure of giving us just enough to know how dangerous the monster is, before giving us the full scope of how frightening it actually is.
All of this crescendos in out-and-out horror movie monster madness and insane, bombastic action, as the machine guns and grenade launchers come out, leading to high speed chase filled with automatic gunfire and screeching tires. It is an absolute blast.
Then, the 2nd hour begins, as we shift our attention over to Ko Sung-Ki, who is investigating the creatures from their origin. This is where the film almost becomes a sequel to itself, as the narrative shifts the scope broader, and we are introduced to the whole monster crew. This also means that the action becomes bigger, the creatures become more robust, and, surprisingly, the humor becomes both more common and more ridiculous (there is a whole bit involving diarrhea that essentially devolves into an “aristocrats” joke).
Even as the film finds newer and bigger kitchen sinks to throw, it still maintains its overall fun vibe, becoming something closer to a Michael Bay film (complimentary) as it goes, the machine gun fire becoming more abundant and the car chases more elaborate (there’s even a whole chase on horseback!). Hope definitely edges towards exhaustion in its climax (the final chase becoming a borderline parody at times), but it’s still consistently thrilling.
Then…the final 15 minutes happen. This is where it’s going to lose most people, and honestly, almost lost me. Been a while since it felt like a film so intentionally pulled itself up and off the tracks and allowed itself to be derailed in such a big, kinda jaw dropping way. Which is why I kinda respect it? It is such an out-of-nowhere shift, that essentially gives us an ending from a completely unrelated film, that I found myself just in awe of its pure ballsiness. That being said, it is a distinctly strange way to end any film, let alone this film, so I can understand those that are completely turned off by it.
Even with that bit of strangeness in the final reel, this is still an absolute kickass action film that knows how to ratchet up the tension, set the stakes right, and how to deliver on the pay off. Hope is a rollercoaster ride that never really slows down, to the point that I was a little bit in shock that this is nearly 3 hours; all it knows how to do is slam on the accelerator, and it keeps it planted to the floor from go.
For fans of well executed monster movies, of practical machine gun fire, of really freaky monster designs, of perfect ensemble energy, of insane escalating poop jokes, and/or of inexplicably confusing endings, Hope is 100% for you!
