Neon announced today it will release Na Hong-jin‘s sci-fi horror mash-up Hope in theaters on September 9th. The first teaser […]
Neon announced today it will release Na Hong-jin‘s sci-fi horror mash-up Hope in theaters on September 9th.
The first teaser trailer for Hope is absolute kitchen-sink filmmaking; it’s a chaotic mash-up of sci-fi, horror, action, creature-feature insanity, and apocalyptic spectacle all slammed together into one gigantic, unhinged fever dream. One second, it looks like a gritty detective thriller; the next, there’s an alien baby, a creature stalking people through the woods, a massive spaceship crash, giant Terminator 2-style artillery weapons, and a gigantic alien monster literally leaping out of the sky to attack someone on horseback.
It’s completely nuts.
Critics coming out of Cannes have been equally blown away and baffled by what Na Hong-jin has pulled off. The Hollywood Reporter called the film “a crazy good time,” praising its “fresh take on sci-fi horror” and “thrilling action,” dubbing it an “instant cult classic.”
Not everybody is sold on the execution, though. Some reactions have criticized the CGI and overwhelming scale, with IndieWire calling out what it described as “some of the worst CGI since The Mummy Returns.” Others close to me have compared the film’s chaotic ambition to Southland Tales… messy, overstuffed, borderline incomprehensible at times, but still somehow an absolute blast to watch.
That tracks perfectly with this trailer, which makes the film look enormous, grimy, violent, weird, and completely unrestrained.
If the final film delivers on even half of the insanity packed into this teaser, Hope could end up being one of the wildest genre movies of the year.
