I have a soft spot for the action/science-fiction genre. Hollywood movies of this genre are usually pretty lame stories, but they make up for it with spectacular action and some sporadic humor. A good example is Independence Day. It’s just stupid from start to end, but it has those great moments that keep me coming back for more.

I saw the trailer for Hope and became intrigued to see the Korean take on the classic Hollywood trope. Unfortunately, what I got was a Korean copy of the same Hollywood tropes—with less humor. (To be fair, maybe there was humor, but I’m trying to take Peetime notes and keep up with the subtitles, so I missed a good bit.)

7:42●●● 95%

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The first third of the movie, which is like an hour long, started well, but really began to drag. They worked hard to make sure that we never saw the monster, only the destruction. The movie really milks the hide-the-monster trope. Turns out, that wouldn’t be the last trope they milked.

What I liked

The set design was really well done. I think they actually destroyed a small village in Korea to make this film. If they didn’t just raze the village to the ground after filming, I would hate to be on the cleanup crew. What a mess.

Update: turns out, the village where the movie was filmed has a population of 418 citizens and the making of the movie has boosted the local economy due to increased tourism.

For me, the high point of the movie was when Bum-seok (Police Chief) notices that the alien they are trying to kill has tears in its eyes. This is when I think to myself, “Okay, now this is where the movie takes a left turn at Hollywood Boulevard and goes in a different direction. All along, the movie has made a point of emphasis to let us know that this village is on the border with N. Korea. Maybe this is where the movie will begin to explore some symbolic relationship between what is viewed as alien really isn’t any different than us, and the solution to all our problems is just mutual understanding.”

Nope, it’s not that at all.

Finally, after they hit the alien with everything short of a nuke, they kill it.

But wait, there’s more! At this point, we’re about an hour or so into the movie, so of course there are more because there’s still a movie’s amount of runtime left.

The second trope that we have to muddle through is the autopsy scene on the alien: is it dead, or just mostly dead? Turns out, it’s dead-dead, but not before multiple scenes of the scientist trying to cut it open and the camera focusing on the alien’s eyes and hands before cutting away to a different scene.

Next, we get the local hunters who discover the crashed alien ship scene. Maybe this is where we’ll learn something important about the aliens that helps us understand them.

But no. Nothing like that. What we learn is that the scriptwriters care nothing about letting the characters make logical decisions. At this point, the audience understands that the alien that was rampaging through the village was only there looking for her child. That’s a classic character motivation, and it can work. But at the same time, the other aliens have left their crashed ship with the door wide open and another child hiding inside. Either the aliens, who can build a spaceship to cross interstellar space, or the scriptwriters are stupid. You pick which one you think it is.

At this point, we get action for the sake of action. There’s no more plot to reveal. We don’t learn much about the aliens. At this point, it’s just Korean cowboys vs. the aliens. It’s nothing more complicated than that. And if you think this action sequence drags on too long, just wait for the chase scene on the abandoned freeway. That scene just won’t end.

The trope that won’t end.

One of my pet peeves in action movies is a chase scene where the chaser is clearly going faster than the chasee, but never seems to catch up. We get some of that in the forest chase scenes. The aliens are way faster than the men on horseback, and in one cut it looks like the alien is about to pounce, but then we see the next cut and the alien is suddenly far behind again. If that isn’t enough, the chase scene on the abandoned freeway just won’t end.

One last complaint

Why are Alicia Vikander (Ex Machina, The Danish Girl, Jason Bourne, etc.) and Michael Fassbender (Magneto) cast as the voices for the aliens? When I saw their names in the credits, I was like, “Wait? What? Fassbender isn’t in this movie. There’s not a single caucasian person in the entire film. I think I would have noticed. Wait… is he the male alien? I guess, maybe, but why?”

With all the CGI/makeup applied to the aliens, they could have used anybody. What’s the point?

Grade: C

Plot

In the remote South Korean village of Hope Harbor, police chief Bum-seok and officer Sung-ae are called to investigate a mysterious creature wreaking havoc on the community. But all is not as it seems, and perceptions can be misleading. What begins as ignorance plants the seed of disaster, escalating through human conflict into a tragedy of cosmic proportions.