Hope is a film that I had to go out of my way to see. It's not that my local cinema wasn't showing it but the showings were only at 9pm which means it would be midnight that I would get out and so I found a 7:40pm showing in what use to be my local cinema for a lot of my life. Hope is a story about aliens that attack the quiet town of Hope. Police Chief K Bum-seok is shown a dead cow with massive wounds and as he is driving back to the station he drives through a town and that is when he comes across the thing that is causing the chaos. As the film progresses it turns out that it isn't just one creature but a group of them.
The film feels like it ends of a cliffhanger which if it doesn't lead to a sequel then the whole decision to introduce the purpose of the aliens feels a bit pointless. I think if it were just aliens landing on earth and are attacked by humans then I would have been totally on board but the way that the aliens are seemingly humanised by having the couple (played by Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander) mourning the death of their emperor when his ship crashes onto Earth. Speaking of Fassbender and Vikander, I honestly am curious about why they decided to do this film. They aren't bad but it's curious casting choices but it maybe to try and attract the attention of a western audience.
Hwang Jung-min is the Police Chief that does more running in this film than I have seen in any film. To be fair to him Jung Ho-yeon does her fair share of running (and in one scene riding a bike) and this despite a lot of car driving and horse riding. Jung-min starts off as a cranky police officer and very quickly becomes the hero of the film or at least one of them.
The action scenes are easily the best things in the movie because they are done so well. The speed that the aliens move means that when they end up killing any humans they just turn into blood and guts and I was surprised that this was a 15 but I suppose that shows that times have changed. The special effects have a mixed time in this film. When we meet the first alien in the town there are some terrible CGI shots which show why it was kept in the shadows for so long. When the action moves to the forest then the effects are much better and I think the lower lighting helps.
The score stood out to me which isn't something I usually associate with a Korean film which might be harsh but it's true. I also thought that the cinematography was quite good. When the story is in the town then the cinematography along with the way the town looks wrecked helps create a great atmosphere and when the action moves to the forest the cinematography works very well and they make the forest looks interesting which isn't the easiest thing to pull off.
Hope is not what I was really expecting but in a good way. I think I was expecting one monster causing mayhem in a quiet seaside town and what I got was several aliens causing chaos in a seaside town and the nearby woods. I think I would like this more if the loose ends were tied up but as it is with no idea if there is going to be a sequel, is a very good film with a good story, some great performances and some nice gore. Not the best non-english language film this year but pretty close.
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