Hope

This is a really bad day for Hope Harbor. You build tension in movies by the characters being relatable and putting them in peril that you can understand. This movie does this exceedingly well because you can tell just how terrified the characters are of what is going on around them. It effectively builds the tension and you get very engaged in what is happening. The movie shifts tonally a few times and yet manages to keep me engaged and invested throughout. It feels like the start of a multi-movie franchise and I am on board with it. This is a fun ride and I'm sure you will enjoy it and I highly recommend it.

*Hope* is one of the most well-rounded action thrillers of the year. The clunky ending does drop its otherwise action-packed masterpiece status down slightly, but *Hope* effortlessly blends so many genres with stellar performances, impressive gore, and intensely riveting action sequences. https://bit.ly/NaHopejin

The discovery of a badly mauled cow is quite perplexing for the local police chief (Hwang Jung-min), especially when a few of his wise-cracking citizens suggest it might have been caused by a marauding tiger! It doesn't take him long to realise that whatever it is, it's a great deal bigger and more menacing than a cat as he returns to town and finds scenes of death and destruction with gunfire sounding regularly. What are they shooting at? Meantime, out in the woods his group of mischievous tiger-hunters are finding themselves embroiled in something altogether more mysterious, extra-terrestrial and perilous too! Ok, so it is far too long and for much of the later stages it reminded me of an hybrid of that lacklustre "65" (2023) and "Predator" (1987) - only with some added semi-slapstick comedy, but the first hour is quickly paced and entertaining end-to-end stuff. There's a bit of comedy...

An old saying maintains “Never put the cart before the horse,” an observation whose implications should be obvious. That applies in filmmaking, too: When a standalone production is thought to be the inspiration for a new franchise, the creators need to be careful not to get ahead of themselves. That’s to say that the first film in the proposed series absolutely must be a knock-out to earn the right to a sequel (or sequels) (“Star Trek” notwithstanding). But, if those behind the initial effort are so focused on what lies down the road in a potential franchise that they don’t get the first release right, it’s the equivalent of shooting themselves in the foot. And that is precisely what undermines this latest release from writer-director Na Hing-jin. In essence, this sci-fi action-adventure follows the improbable, occasionally strangely madcap attempts by a small town South Korean police...