There's a familiar piece of advice that cautions against putting things in the wrong order, and it’s a lesson filmmakers should take to heart. When a movie is positioned as the beginning of something bigger, the initial film has to be truly exceptional to justify further installments—unless you’re talking about “Star Trek,” perhaps. It's detrimental when creators are so preoccupied with potential future chapters that they neglect to make the first one work; it's like sabotaging their own efforts. That's exactly what holds back this new film from writer-director Na Hing-jin. The story, a science fiction action adventure, centers on a small South Korean police force and others as they try to track down a strange monster causing chaos in their town and the surrounding area. However, the narrative lacks explanation as it progresses, relying heavily on familiar elements—a complete absence of background information, a fragmented and poorly built storyline, noticeably low-budget CGI effects, a plot that leans almost entirely on predictable ideas, hurried action sequences, and humor that feels awkward and sometimes completely out of place, along with excessive profanity exceeding what’s seen in “The Wolf of Wall Street” (2013). While the film begins fairly well, evoking a blend of the "Godzilla" movies and the down-to-earth feel of “Fargo” (1996), that initial section is ultimately stretched out too long—building suspense is one thing, but prolonging an anticipated reveal for 45 minutes goes too far. From there, unfortunately, things decline significantly; a confusing story is extended to a lengthy 2:39:00 runtime, exceeding its welcome by nearly an hour. At that point, my only expectation was that the film would soon conclude with some kind of sensible explanation, which never arrives. This is where the focus on future franchise installments undermines the credibility of this release. It’s baffling to see such positive reviews from critics and at the Cannes Film Festival, where “Hope” received a Palme d’Or nomination—the festival's most prestigious award—given its shortcomings. Audiences seeking enjoyable scary movies have many other, superior options available, like “Jaws” (1975), “Jurassic Park” (1993) and the recent "The End of Oak Street" (2026). It would be better to choose one of those instead.

Source on TMDB