For a decade since his extraordinarily uncanny horror-hybrid “The Wailing” in 2016, fans of Korean director Na Hong-jin have eagerly awaited his next uncategorizable genre mash-up. Now, “Hope” arrives, a project that, despite its high-profile international cast and the largest production budget in Korean film history, remained shrouded in secrecy until its premiere. This new film is described as hilarious, unwieldy, overlong, and features some of the most breathtakingly elegant action moviemaking, prompting the question of whether it could possibly live up to such immense anticipation.

The film opens in the late 1980s in the shabby South Korean hamlet of Hope Harbor, a town close enough to its northern neighbor that weathered billboards warn against landmines and urge residents to “Report Spies!” and “Guard Against Infiltrators!” In this pre-cellphone era, police chief Bum-seok (an irreplaceable Hwang Jung-min, reuniting with Na after “The Wailing”) is called to investigate the gorily mysterious mutilation of a large cow in a vast flat field on the town’s outskirts. The carcass is discovered by a group of hunters led by Sung-ki (Zo In-Sung), Bum-seok’s second cousin, highlighting the close-knit, inter-related nature of the community.

While Bum-seok is initially spun a yarn about a semi-mythical tiger from the North, the true menace soon reveals itself. As Bum-seok returns to town, Hope Harbor is infiltrated by something far worse than a defecting big cat – a creature capable of charging through brick walls and flinging entire cars at retreating locals. With the hunters out of reach and other manpower off fighting wildfires, help is scarce until Officer Sung-ae (“Squid Game” star Hoyeon, making a fantastic big-screen debut) arrives. Rather than being scared, Sung-ae is enraged, bellowing, “It’s killed so many people. Monster or not, it’s just not right!”

The film’s first hour is wildly entertaining, reminiscent of Ron Underwood’s cult classic “Tremors,” but scaled up in both expanse and expense. Cinematographer Hong Kyung-pyo (“Parasite,” “Burning,” “The Wailing”) wields his gliding camera with an insolent grace, providing a serenely sarcastic commentary on the chaos and carnage of Lee Hwokyoung’s production design. The narrative is filled with impactful team-ups and comedic fuck-ups, where every character is distinctly memorable. One particularly humorous scene involves Bum-seok accidentally shooting the local butcher, mistaking him for the monster, as the injured man murmurs, “Honey, I’ll call you back,” before collapsing.

This exceptional, careful, and considered filmmaking applied to a gleefully generic set-up is an endless pleasure. The film delivers high-octane, bloodrush delight through its kinetic camerawork, such as when a speeding car pulls a U-turn and the skidding camera swings around, capturing the momentum as if it needs a runway’s length to change course. However, the experience shifts when the creature is finally revealed, played in motion capture by Cameron Britton. The weightless, old-school videogame aesthetic of the alien monster design can feel like a disappointment, especially against the stylishness of the world captured in-camera.

These issues are magnified in the slack middle section of the 160-minute film. Unnecessary subplots and additional alien characters multiply as the hunters make their own discoveries in the forest. Halfhearted attempts at providing a thin backstory for the aliens fall flat, lacking the amusing originality of an old-timer’s minutely scatological explanation for his first encounter in the woods. “Hope” is almost heroic in its lack of thematic weight or political/philosophical subtext, which makes its inclusion in the Cannes competition feel awkward compared to Na’s more layered previous films like “The Chaser,” “The Yellow Sea,” and “The Wailing.”

While it’s a stretch to read the casting of Michael Fassbender, Alicia Vikander, and Taylor Russell as the heavily CG-disguised alien clan as a sly inversion of traditional Hollywood “othering,” the film ultimately regains its breakneck tempo in the last third. This culminates in an all-timer of a highway chase where everything is thrown onto the screen, with the exception of an anti-tank rocket that, flouting Chekhov’s Bazooka, is glimpsed but never used. Viewers are encouraged to ignore the janky VFX and instead embrace the compelling human drama, impressive human stunts, and unflagging human comedy that define this alien-encounter movie. The oddball denizens of Hope Harbor, though slower, weaker, and ultimately less noble than their extraterrestrial overlords, are undeniably more fun.

“Hope” jolted the Cannes Film Festival awake on Sunday night with a 6-minute ovation, an extremely ambitious blockbuster hopeful about an alien invasion in a sleepy South Korean mountain town. Directed by Na Hong-jin, this big-budget epic masterfully combined a gritty survival story with an original sci-fi mythology, creating widespread anticipation. The film’s first 40 minutes delivered a continuous cut of increasingly bloody action, climaxing in the leveling of an entire town, as potty-mouthed police officers and hill people struggled against the mysterious creature. One of the wildest moments at the Palais involved an elderly man vividly describing his encounter with aliens while having a bowel movement in the woods, a scene that had the black-tie and haute couture clad audience cackling with laughter.

Starring Hwang Jung-min, Zo In-sung, Hoyeon Jung, Michael Fassbender, Alicia Vikander, Taylor Russell, and Cameron Britton, “Hope” marks Na Hong-jin’s fourth film to bow in Cannes, but his first to compete for the Palme d’Or. Even before the festival, “Hope” had generated significant buzz, underlined by Neon acquiring distribution rights for North America, the U.K., and Australia, followed by Mubi scooping up rights for multiple territories including Latin America, Italy, Spain, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Turkey. Na Hong-jin’s previous Cannes appearances include “The Chaser” (2008), “The Murderer (The Yellow Sea)” (2011), and “Goksung” (2016), all screened in other sections. While Fassbender, Vikander, and Jung-min have attended the festival multiple times, “Hope” marked the first official selection for Hoyeon, Russell, and Britton.