There is little hope for people and a lot for the monsters in this roller-coster, bonkers film from Korea. Hope is the name of the town in this. A word attached to a monster disaster film one would feel as if the story is about something new in the sub-genre. An uplifting feeling maybe. It’s hard to know since the third act is more about the monsters than the people. Attempting to garner empathy for invaders. The title of the film feels more like a distraction than a focus. In fact the entire film feels like a distraction. It is the action of events rather that more stressed than the event itself that leads the film to be reaching for any poignancy. The focus for most of the story is the intimacy of certain events and leaves gaping blind spots for the bigger scale events. All the big important events that drive the story are left out and some of it completely.  Questions will remain with audiences that will not be answered and will leave with utter frustration. And with an ending that seemed to be paper clipped from a whole other story. “Hope” is a story structure mess. For more than any of the damage the monsters inflicted on the town. What is clear is that the film wants to be a monster disaster story through the perspective of a few of the townspeople and have them lead the audiences on how they witness the invasion. It does pay off for a few moments, but overall the film is a uniquely forgettable movie. A rigorous accomplishment since the film does have powerful and sustaining shots and scenes. It is a disorganized mess of a movie, because it does not know which point of the story it wants to be its main focus. I think the film wants to flip the notion of Hope to the monsters, because clearly it is not for the people or survivors.  

The action scenes and stunts are quite remarkable. The comedy relief is there, but what really hurts is the sheer unconvincing monsters that are so CGI made that it takes me out of the film. What are their motivations? Because it seems even with the monsters it is all motivated by reactions, but necessarily by intent. Something that they try to repair at the end with the most uneven ending for a monster disaster film. 

“Hope” is three movies in one. The runtime doesn’t fit what it wants to tell. Subtracting the focus of a monster(s) and solely relying on the people would make the film soar. It is where it is exceeded. It’s how the people react to the events and try to get along with their obvious differences is where the film is compelling. Once the monsters are the main characters the movie takes on a whole new tone and theme and loses all that it gained in the first thirty minutes- which was sensational. “Hope” needed to be a short film or a streaming series to flush all that it was to present. That hope was for the monsters not for the people.  How interesting would that be 7.5/10