Na Hong-jin, 'Hope' stars unpack alien epic ahead of July release

"Compared to my previous films, I thought the level of violence here would be far lower — and that's how I wanted to make it," director Na Hong-jin said Monday.

That may come as a surprise to anyone who has seen "Hope." Na's first feature in the decade since "The Wailing" is a creature spectacle of staggering scale, one that levels half a town and burns through enough ammunition to stock a small army.

But for the director, who met the press after a media screening at Megabox Coex in southern Seo ...