Na Hong-jin’s Hope is the kick up the arse this competition needed—but is it any good?

Equal parts furiously entertaining and utterly bamboozling, Na Hong-jin’s mid-competition entry at Cannes this year is exactly the pump of adrenaline this dreary line-up has been begging for. A rapturously fun time in the Palais des Festivals, without a doubt—but is Hope actually any good?

Set over the course of 24 hours in the remote Korean fishing village of Hope Harbor, a stone’s throw from the DMZ, the fourth feature from the acclaimed South Korean thriller director (his first in a decade) cuts to the chase from the outset. We’re immediately introduced to Police Chief Bum-seok (popular South Korean actor Hwang Jung-min), who is investigating a string of mysterious attacks on local cattle. Very soon, he realises this is no mere tiger attack, as he is initially led to believe by local tracker Sung-ki (Zo In-sung), but something far more terrifying, and begins following a trail of death and destruction left in the wake of a mysterious monster.

This comprises the first riveting hour of Hope, which sees Bum-seok bumble and fumble his way around town in virtually real time, always one step behind the carnage, which increases in scale and brutality as he closes in on the elusive beast. It’s an ambitious opening: a sustained edging of the audience that balances humour and tension brilliantly, culminating in a creature reveal and Spielbergian chase sequence through the narrow alleyways of Hope Harbor that had audience members at the Palais on the edge of their seats.

Later, we’re introduced to a spunky rookie cop Sung-ae, played by Squid Game breakout Hoyeon, who received thunderous applause from the auditorium when she first appeared onscreen—a testament not only to the actress’s bubbling star power, but to how firmly Hong-jin had the crowd in his hands during that momentous first hour.

Unfortunately, Hope’s second act, which follows the immediate aftermath of the alien attack, moves into shakier territory that, while not without its bright spots (one particular sequence, in which Hoyeon’s character takes a witness statement from an elderly villager with loose bowels, is roaringly funny), drains some of the mystery and momentum from that stellar opening. An overlong runtime, bland alien designs, and a truly perplexing closing statement all contribute to the film losing its well-established footing.

The film’s central aliens—performed somewhat redundantly by Taylor Russell, Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander—make up the crux of Hope’s qualitative dip. Using uninspired, inconsistent character designs that often look as though they were rendered on a Game Boy Advance, the intimidating creatures that captured our imaginations through implication alone in the first act are quickly revealed to be little more than generic humanoids. The first alien resembles a reject from Attack on Titan, while the second plays like a cringeworthy knockoff of the Na’vi from Avatar. The third, a hulking male alien capable of transforming into a stampeding beast, is somehow designed to look as unspectacular as possible. Presumably intended to make them as convenient to relate to later on, the decision comes at the expense of the kind of cosmic horror on which a film like this thrives. 

Which brings us to Hope’s ending, which undermines a gorgeously staged third-act action set-piece by abruptly pivoting towards franchise-building mythology rather than cleanly paying off the narrative at hand. The heel-turn—the details of which I won’t spoil here—is so confoundingly executed that you almost get the sense Hong-jin, who previously delivered two masterpieces with The Wailing and The Chaser, is purposefully sabotaging his own movie as some sort of commentary on the relentless franchise-logic of modern blockbuster filmmaking. Indeed, Hope has the juice—its energy electrifying—but its underlying narrative lacks the originality to sustain a sequel, let alone an entire series of films.

Hope, as overlong and occasionally hamfisted as it is, still has a lot to give. Reportedly one of the most expensive South Korean films ever made, it boasts gorgeous cinematography and several top-notch action sequences, combining slapstick comedy and cartoonish violence with real tension and stakes. Of course, there remains the question of how exactly a stark raving mad sci-fi adventure flick made it into Competition in the first place, but when the final product is this rollickingly entertaining (and the rest of the lineup this year is…not), maybe the best course of action is to simply sit back and enjoy the ride.