Hope | 2026 Cannes Film Festival Review

Monster Squad: Hong-jin Goes Full-Blown Extraterrestrial

For his fourth feature, South Korean director Na Hong-jin goes for breakneck, relentless mayhem in the curiously titled Hope. Always tending to blend genre elements in his previous efforts, Hong-jin has increasingly leaned into logical exaggerations, beginning with his most successfully conceived film to date with his 2008 debut The Chaser (which is also a title befitting this venture). There’s much to wonder about in this propulsive narrative made up quite extensively of formidably choreographed chase sequences wherein two separate groups of humans are plagued by creatures eventually revealed to be extraterrestrials (but who seem to be made of inextinguishable materials, like organic versions of Transformers).

When the corpse of a cow is found brutally torn apart on the outskirts of Hope City, a quaint harbor town near the Demilitarized Zone, chief of police Bum-seok (Hwang Jung-min) is pulled into a chaotic attempt to locate whatever caused the carnage. Some of the locals believe it’s the work of an errant tiger, but as search parties are formed from the town’s limited resources, it appears something otherworldly is behind the destruction and about to wreak considerable havoc on the townspeople.

Unfortunately, some may abandon all hope as they enter this world as there’s little by way of plot, which tends to desensitize the audience and create a tedious vacuum, especially since the film is two hours and forty minutes long. It takes nearly an hour for the narrative to assert what’s actually going on with the creepy, indestructible creatures laying waste to the harbor town near the DMZ (where the creepiest elements might be all the signage directing citizens to alert authorities about spies). It’s difficult not to formulate comparisons to something like Park Chan-wook’s Joint Security Area (2000) and Bong Joon-ho’s The Host (2006), but Hong-jin doesn’t seem to be making any real definitive statements as those films, tapping into the kind of fervor desired by adrenaline junkies jonesing for an extended fix.

Where Hope tends to falter is with the ersatz world building of the alien creatures, employing Hollywood stars like Alicia Vikander, Michael Fassbender, and Taylor Russell to speak in a made-up language beneath their CGI, translated into ludicrous statements relating to whatever their vague agenda is. The real difficulty in the suspension of disbelief are some subpar special effects, particularly with the first creature revealed during an initial chase sequence. An Amazonian demon reminiscent of the airplane gremlin in The Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983) lays waste to Hope Harbor, and early delights abound in the chemistry between Hwang Jung-min’s chief of police and his effortlessly capable officer played by Hoyeon. They’re able to collect the corpse, never realizing a separate search party of farmers is set to stumble on the additional alien members this being was a part of. Shades of Predator (1987) or Sphere (1998) come to mind, but not before we’re jostled away on another seemingly endless flight for survival. For those audience members likely to check out, Hong-jin does have a remarkable ability to yank us back into investment, perhaps nowhere better than in the film’s best sequence involving Zo In-sung on horseback (whose character ends up being a scene stealer thanks to his particular predilection for survival).

Much like with The Wailing (2016), Hong-jin creates some remarkable moments (like an unforgettable exorcism), but Hope outwears its welcome following the intrigue of an extended set-up and, most unforgivably, doesn’t lean into its assets.

Reviewed on May 17th at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival (79th edition) – Competition. 160 Mins.

★★½/☆☆☆☆☆