South Korean director Na Hong Jin’s highly anticipated new sci-fi film, Hope, is gearing up for its domestic release on July 15th, following a South Korean press preview on July 6th.
The movie originally made its global debut at the Cannes Film Festival in May with a 160-minute runtime. However, Na trimmed about four minutes from a mid-movie alien chase scene, bringing the final cut to 156 minutes.
Following yesterday’s press screening, South Korean media and critics widely praised the film’s massive scale and bold ambition, though its cryptic narrative and creature design drew mixed reactions.
Max Movie, a South Korean entertainment media outlet specializing in films and the entertainment industry, noted that the film marks a striking return for Na after a decade of meticulous preparation, calling it a work where “Director Na Hong Jin once again twists the conventions of mainstream Korean cinema.”
Maxmovie pointed out that the film gets off to a slow start, noting that “the screen, thick with forest fog and village silence, builds atmosphere, but the plot barely moves forward. While The Wailing masterfully built a slow, creeping dread, Hope feels more stagnant than tense in its opening act.” However, the pace shifts drastically later on. “The movie shows a completely different face about 50 minutes in with the sudden appearance of an alien life form,” Max Movie wrote. “From that exact moment, Hope truly comes alive.”
Still, critics were split on how little the movie explains the extraterrestrial creature. Max Movie pointed out that “the film leaves almost everything to the audience’s imagination, offering no real answers as to why the alien came to Earth, why it’s attacking humans, or why it can’t leave.”
They also questioned the creature’s look, adding, “While the alien’s design and visual effects show a lot of effort, they don’t really break away from creature designs we’ve already seen in Hollywood movies. The alien is supposed to be an overwhelming, terrifying presence, but it sometimes looks a bit clunky, making it hard to bridge the gap between the film’s gritty realism and its CGI elements.”
Entertainment outlet OSEN focused on the movie’s groundbreaking nature for the region, stating, “Hope makes no secret of its ambition to reach a level of science fiction that Korean cinema has never achieved before. It’s astonishing that a film of this caliber is coming out of South Korea.” Yet, they echoed the sentiment that the plot might alienate some viewers, writing, “The film’s deliberately ambiguous story and ending leave many questions unanswered. It’s hard to expect clear answers in Hope. The ending might feel incomplete to some, and the finale—along with a post-credit scene—strongly hints at plans for a sequel. Even though director Na Hong Jin said he put everything he wanted to say into this film, audiences will naturally find themselves hoping for a sequel.”
Elle Korea highlighted the film’s action sequences as its greatest strength, specifically singling out a horseback riding scene featuring Zo In Sung. They called it “a masterpiece that will go down in Korean cinematic history,” raving that “the sequence where he twists his body on a galloping horse through dense forest trails to fire a gun is a marvelous feat that surpasses Jung Woo Sung’s famous horseback action in Kim Jee Woon’s The Good, the Bad, the Weird.” The outlet also praised a tense, close-quarters escape scene and a manual-gear car chase starring Squid Game breakout Jung Ho-yeon for keeping the audience completely gripped.
The most enthusiastic praise came from Sports Chosun, which breathlessly described Hope as “an unbelievably wild, mind-blowing sci-fi movie.” While they acknowledged that some of the visual effects fall short, they ultimately concluded, “Hope is a thoroughly fresh, shocking, bizarre and unconventional film. A wild movie unlike anything seen in the 100-year history of Korean cinema has been born.”
Dismissing potential drawbacks, they added, “Neither the 156-minute runtime nor the divisive alien visuals pose a risk to the film,” celebrating it as “a flawless, well-rounded movie that hits every mark: direction, story, cinematography, action, sound and the passionate performances of the cast.” They also strongly urged audiences to experience it on premium screens like IMAX, Dolby Cinema, and 4DX to fully appreciate its immersive scale.
Ultimately, Hope has emerged as a polarizing but undeniably massive cinematic event, earning deep respect for its world-building and action, even as its abstract storytelling and creature visual effects spark intense debate.
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