Hope
After our friend Austin turned E and I on to the Wailing, I was excited to see Na Hong-jin’s Hope pop up, and truly, a 10/10 trailer for it, so at least Jord and I were stoked going into our watch. As far as the actual execution, Na Hong-jin does a lot things extremely well in Hope. The concept, story were incredible, as was the action sequences and tension built, but the poor CGI and 15 minute too-long final act do knock the score quite a bit. The final scene only exists to set up a sequel, and leaves this movie feeling a bit incomplete. Na Hong-jin blends comedy into his storytelling masterfully, and as Jord says, there is a scene in this movie that had our entire theater just dying with laughter, the ZEJ team included. I am curious to see where the sequel will go with this storyline, and honestly if the CGI can be improved, the sequel could be the rare improvement over the original.
-Z
The main issue here is the length - there is just too much of too many things, and it really starts to drag by the end. The pacing and plot feel a little all over the place - we saw one of the longest car chase scenes imaginable and an ending that felt more like the beginning of a sequel film. The energy and pacing of the first third or so is excellent though, and the humor, despite reading from subtitles, really got our theater laughing. Overall, glad we had the experience of seeing this in the theater!
-E
After seeing the trailer, it looked like an insane ride and left more questions than answers in the best way. Once the movie started, I was locked locked. It was a movie of great action and was extremely funny at points. It may have been my favorite comedy scene of the year, which is crazy to think a Korean action film would be my winner. The hold up is that the CGI is definitely a victim of its budget and the ending taught me in real time that this isn’t a one off movie, but a series. I sadly can see where its going, and now I think it is heading down the road I find least interesting, but there is no shot I would miss a sequel to Hope and I ‘hope’ you all find time to see it!
-J
