Cars fly through the air, buildings are torn open, and residents flee or are slaughtered. Something is ravaging the village of Hope, but Na Hong-jin keeps us searching for the beast for a long time. In this isolated South Korean community, cut off from communications and reinforcements, a police officer tries to figure out what is going on. The new film from the director of The Strangers, in French cinemas on October 28, 2026, opens with this chase, as unsettling as it is intriguing.
The first part is a remarkable showcase of direction. The creature remains unseen, while the damage gives us a sense of its power. Faced with such destruction, the imagination runs wild: we picture an enormous monster, some kind of Godzilla capable of sweeping everything away. What does it look like? How big is it really? Each new trace sharpens our curiosity, and the film sustains that anticipation with impressive skill.
This choice lends real weight to the movements of the police officer played by Hwang Jung-min. He seems completely out of his depth, and his fear is plain to see. Yet he keeps going. He does his job even as everything seems to be telling him to run. This mix of terror and determination makes him instantly endearing: we follow a man who has to step in without the slightest idea of what he’ll find. His bewilderment mirrors our own and gives a human dimension to the spectacle of destruction.
After making her name in Squid Game, Jung Ho-yeon brings a particularly charismatic presence to the role of Sung-ae. As the creature reveals itself and her colleague nearly gets killed, she tears up in a car, guns loaded—a fitting entrance for a cop who isn’t afraid of anything. Her courage, perceptiveness and efficiency are then confirmed throughout the film. It’s a real pleasure to follow this badass heroine, who is as quick to grasp the situation as she is to take action.
Na Hong-jin also knows how to inject absurdity into the carnage. Hope asks viewers to embrace its humor, which can be disconcerting at times, cropping up in situations where panic should take over completely. The over-the-top reactions and the disconnect between events and those trying to deal with them fuel the film’s appeal. You can be afraid, hold your breath, then laugh at what just happened. This tonal freedom is an essential part of its energy.
When the creatures take up more of the screen, the film shifts to a whole new scale. Imposing, fast and incredibly powerful, they live up to expectations. Their movements and the force of their attacks give the confrontations a striking intensity. Discovering them is one of the film’s great pleasures.
The direction feels flawless in the way it guides this progression: first piquing our curiosity, then building the tension, and finally letting the action unfold on a grand scale. The intensity and surprises keep the fun going, even as the film shifts gears. It embraces its excess and taste for the absurd with a confidence that makes you want to go along for the ride.
This offering will primarily appeal to fans of science fiction and action who enjoy impressive creatures, violence, and comic digressions. Viewers who are sensitive to massacres or don’t respond well to humor amid the chaos may prefer to keep their distance. The brutality of the attacks also makes it advisable not to take young children.
Hope isn’t our film of the year, though. It’s still a very good action movie, intense and full of surprises, whose success rests on particularly accomplished direction. From the anxious anticipation of the opening scenes to the power of the creatures, Na Hong-jin delivers a spectacle that deftly blends suspense, tension and humor.
Blending science fiction, action and thriller, Hope marks Na Hong-jin’s return to directing, ten years after The Strangers. The South Korean filmmaker previously directed The Chaser and The Yellow Sea. Each of his feature films has screened at the Cannes Film Festival, but Hope is the first to join the competition for the Palme d’Or.
The cast brings together several figures from South Korean and international cinema. Hwang Jung-min plays Bum-seok, Hoyeon plays Sung-ae and Zo In-sung plays Sung-ki. Michael Fassbender, Alicia Vikander, Taylor Russell and Cameron Britton portray the aliens using motion and facial capture, bringing the digital creatures to life through their performances.
To extend the in-theatre experience, check out the sorties cinéma du mois d'octobre, the films à voir en ce moment, and our sélection des thrillers de l’année.
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