MOVIE REVIEW: HOPE

 

A police chief, a policewoman and a group of hunters try to track down and kill a mysterious creature that's laying waste to a Korean village.

Director: Na Hong-jin

Cast: Hwang Jung-min, Zo In-sung, Jung Ho-yeon, Taylor Russell, Cameron Britton, Alicia Vikander, Michael Fassbender

Release Date: September 9, 2026

 

Genre: Action, Drama, Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller

Rated R for strong bloody violent content and language throughout.

Runtime: 2h 36m

Review:

Hope, the latest South Korean sci-fi import, boasts a fun tone along with a series of impressively staged action sequences which propels the majority of the film before the story takes a turn that’s bound to be divisive.  Writer/Director, Na Hong-Jin, displays real confidence and talent behind the camera as he sets up the characters and mystery with impressive restraint as he builds tension before revealing the monsters, almost forty minutes into the film.  There are bits of 90’s Michael Bay smattered throughout as Hong-Jin uses a kinetic pace to establish the setting in town and in the forest that makes for a visually engaging experience that sets with the collections of characters.  The only thing keeping the action sequences from really hitting is some incredibly shoddy early 2000’s level CGI that’s rather distracting throughout.  The script doesn’t offer up a ton of backstory on the motley crew collection of locals, but it does give the whole thing a fun, almost goofy tone amidst all the carnage that recalls other genre bending movies like Shaun of the Dead or Return of the Living Dead.  There are some truly hilarious moments spread throughout the film with the cast showing off some strong comedic timing, a story from a survivor recounting his bathroom trip in the woods is a gut buster.  Hwang Jung-min bumbling police chief serves as the main character for the film, with him delivering solid work as he tries to be brave in the face of the horror unleashed on his unsuspecting town.  He brings a perfect, everyman quality to the character that serves the film well with him being believably frazzled from start to finish.  Zo In-sung brings more self-assured energy as his second cousin, Ko Sung-ki, who investigates the local woods with a group of his friends.   Jung Ho-Yeon brings a rather chaotic, unhinged energy as a rookie cop, Im Sung-ae, as soon as she appears onscreen about halfway through the film.  The rest of the characters are mostly a collection of types rather than fully realized people which is easier to forgive since the majority of them are little more than cannon fodder.  Issues start to pop up in the back half of the film as the story starts going in some unexpected directions with more than a handful of story threads left unanswered which makes the whole thing feel like set up for a sequel which may or may not come although Na Hong-Jin has stated the script for that sequel is complete.  As a standalone film, it leaves Hope slightly unsatisfying which is a shame since so much of the film works so incredibly well. 

B- 

MOVIE REVIEW: ESCAPE ROOM: TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS

Six people unwittingly find themselves locked in another series of escape rooms, slowly uncovering what they have in common to survive -- and discovering they've all played the game before.

Director: Adam Robitel

Cast: Taylor Russell, Logan Miller, Indya Moore, Holland Roden, Thomas Cocquerel, Carlito Olivero

Release Date: July 14, 2021

Genre: Action, Adventure, Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller

Rated PG-13 for violence, terror/peril and strong language

Runtime: 1 h 28 min

Review:

Escape Room: Tournament of Champions is the type of sequel that knows you probably don’t remember much of the original outside of it being enjoyable horror junk food.  It’s smart enough to give you a recap of the original film in its opening sequences before starting in earnest.  Adam Robitel delivers a slickly produced but inherently stupid film that plays it safe by using what worked in the original.  Robitel knows the main attraction to these films are its puzzles and he uses it to film’s advantage allowing you to overlook some shoddy script writing and lackluster acting from the cast.  It’s engaging enough but it still plays like a bastard child of the Saw series and underappreciated Canadian horror film Cube.  The story here is fairly nonsensical with its primary function is to set up the inevitable trilogy capper which will have to answer a slew of unanswered questions.  Escape Room: Tournament of Champions is fine for mindless background entertainment unfortunately it’s the type of film that suffers if you think about it too much. 

C+

MOVIE REVIEW: ESCAPE ROOM

Six adventurous strangers travel to a mysterious building to experience the escape room -- a game where players compete to solve a series of puzzles to win $10,000. What starts out as seemingly innocent fun soon turns into a living nightmare as the four men and two women discover each room is an elaborate trap that's part of a sadistic game of life or death.

Director: Adam Robitel

Cast: Logan Miller, Deborah Ann Woll, Taylor Russell, Tyler Labine, Jay Ellis, Nik Dodani

Release Date: January 4, 2019

Genres: Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi

Rated PG-13 for terror/perilous action, violence, some suggestive material and language

Runtime: 1h 39 min

Review:

Escape Room is one of those January horror releases that pop up every year.  For all intents and purposes, it should be terrible and forgettable.  Escape Room is surprising in that it’s actually an entertainingly brisk sci-fi horror film.  The film itself plays out like a blood and gore less version of Saw, at least on the surface.  As the film goes on, you’d be hard pressed to ignore a more than passing similarities to the 1997 sci-fi gem Cube.  Nobody would ever accuse this film of being as intelligently written as Cube but it works more often than it doesn’t.  That’s because the film cast is surprisingly likeable even though their characters are written with only the most basic levels of layering.  Recognizable faces such as Deborah Ann Woll, Tyler Labine and Jay Ellis give the film a bit more clout than you’d usually expect from films of this ilk.  Sadly, the film does lose a bit of steam in its final act where it seems to rush through the conclusion only to set up a possible sequel, never allowing this original entry’s plot to settle.  Ultimately, Escape Room is one of those fast food style films where you’re liable to forget about it shortly after you leave the theater but then have a sequel pop up a year later.

C+