“Hope” is nearly here.
The divisive, nearly three-hour sci-fi epic from “The Wailing” director Na Hong-jin lands in September. And we have a brand-new trailer for the film, which stars Hwang Jung-min, Zo In-sung, Jung Ho-yeon, Taylor Russell, Cameron Britton, Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander, highlighting the utter chaos that captivated audiences when the film debuted at Cannes earlier this year. Watch it below.
The film follows a small South Korean village that is besieged by seemingly otherworldly terror. And as you can tell from the trailer, this movie goes hard.
After debuting at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this summer (where it competed for the Palme d’Or), it will have its domestic premiere at the New York Asian Film Festival later this month, before hitting theaters in September.
After its premiere at Cannes, it got positively polarizing reviews, with some enchanted by its gonzo energy and others put off by its odd plotting and subpar visual effects. (It was later clarified that the visual effects were unfinished in the cut that premiered at Cannes and judging by the trailer, were probably cleaned up since its splashy debut.)
The current Metacritic score sits at a cool 68. Our own review is one of the more positive write-ups, with our critic writing that “the all-time great new action film from writer-director Na Hong-jin, is a glorious genre romp that contains more magnificent moments in its opening act than most do in their entire runtime.” IGN also adored it, writing that “Hope” is “a nonstop blast with the kind of low-to-the-ground vehicular and horseback action that’ll have you falling off the front of your seat.”
But not everyone was as impressed! Indiewire’s David Ehrlich wrote in his withering critique that “clear that something went terribly wrong in the making of this movie, but the worst part about it is how much goes ecstatically right before the wheels fall off.” Telegraph took aim at the movie’s pacing, saying you could leave for an hour in the middle of “Hope” without missing much, writing “There’s no denying the kicks we get either side, but there is a sharper, more satisfying 100-minute film fighting to get out here.”
“Hope” is released stateside on Sept. 9.
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