May 17, 2026 3:10pm PT

‘Hope’ Review: Na Hong-jin’s Overlong Creature Feature is a Guns-Blazing Riot of Bawdy Humor, Bad CGI and Brilliant Action

Despite subpar creature effects and silly stabs at mythology, for about 70% of its hefty runtime, the Korean master's fourth film is among the best — and funniest — action movies you have ever seen.

Jessica Kiang

Plus Icon

Jessica Kiang

Latest

‘Gentle Monster’ Review: Léa Seydoux Brings Gravity to a Harrowing End-of-Family Drama

2 days ago

‘All of a Sudden’ Review: Virginie Efira and Tao Okamoto Forge a Life-Changing Friendship in Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Life-Giving Drama

2 days ago

‘The Meltdown’ Review: A Missing-Girl Mystery Becomes a Political Allegory as Remote as its Andean Setting

3 days ago

See All

Courtesy of Plus M Entertainment

For a decade, since 2016’s extraordinarily uncanny horror-hybrid “The Wailing,” fans of Korean director Na Hong-jin have been peering anxiously at the horizon awaiting his next uncategorizable genre mash-up. More recently, like a bumbling local police chief removing his mirrored aviators to squint at an unidentifiable what-the-hell-is-that wreaking havoc in the distance, we’ve tracked reports of his new project, which despite a high-profile international cast and the largest budget in Korean film history, remained until the last second shrouded in secrecy. Now that “Hope” is here — hilarious, unwieldy, overlong and featuring some of the most breathtakingly elegant action moviemaking of this or any year — one has to ask if anything could possibly have lived up to the anticipation.

'Hope' Review: Na Hong-jin's Overlong Creature Feature is a Guns-Blazing Riot of Bawdy Humor, Bad CGI and Brilliant Action