The job market is collapsing hard especially under capitalism, and the favouring of artificial intelligence over human workers. Among many other reasons why adapting Donald E. Westlake’s The Ax would feel timely for the present day, Park Chan-wook knows that there’s an anger bursting inside of us that’s ready to explode at any given point in time. It’s an anger directed at the way of the world, as many working class people are constantly screwed over by larger conglomerates and made to fight one another for even a decent salary that would keep them alive. In the greater context of South Korean popular media, we might just see that films and television shows about class stature might be commonplace. These include but are not limited to films like Bong Joon Ho’s Parasite or shows like Hwang Dong-hyuk’s Squid Game, but for Park Chan-wook, this has always been an integral part of his work.
Lee Byung-hun reunites with Park Chan-wook by starring in the lead role of Yoo Man-soo, a paper industry expert with over twenty-five years of experience. Living happily with his wife, two children and dogs, he has everything that any working man would be dreaming of. That all stops after several employees of Man-soo’s company are laid off, himself included, in favour of an automated process. As such, he ends up seeking a job at a rival paper company, where many people are also interested in applying. In a desperate bid to achieve the financial security he enjoyed most at his previous job, he takes matters into his own hands and starts to eliminate other potential candidates for his job. As with director Park Chan-wook’s best films, every minute of it is brilliantly set up. Where No Other Choice finds its greatest successes lies in the fact it’s a thriller where he forces you to see the world in the same way that Yoo Man-soo does.
No Other Choice is very blunt about what it’s targeting, especially as we’re seeing everything unfold from Man-soo’s eyes. He’s presented as an everyman living the ideal life in South Korea, with a family whom he loves dearly, but the abrupt termination of his employment would be enough to put him on edge. And in a world where the job market is constantly shrinking, the need to stay employed would drive a good person insane. It’s a great setup for a thriller, as Donald E. Westlake has captured in his novel, and Costa-Gavras would eventually show in its first adaptation. Park Chan-wook amps up how perfectly this concept lends itself to the realm of dark comedy, emphasizing the absurdity of Yoo Man-soo’s situation.
Park Chan-wook has often made a point of making people whose circumstances seem ordinary into the protagonists of his films, but in No Other Choice, we’re seeing the most direct confrontation he’s laid forth on the screen. Yoo Man-soo is not like Oldboy’s Oh Dae-su or The Handmaiden’s Sook-hee, in that he just seems to have everything that any ordinary citizen in contemporary South Korea would aspire to. But that’s also part of what makes him so compelling: we can easily see ourselves in his position after having been let go from a job we’ve held onto so dearly for most of our lives, when our line of work is threatened. Lee Byung-hun plays this role with such finesse, in what arguably could be his finest moment on the screen since Kim Jee-woon’s A Bittersweet Life. It helps greatly that Lee Byung-hun, perhaps more recognizable for many in “tough guy” or villainous roles, is allowed the opportunity to challenge himself with bringing to life an ordinary man driven to the edge.
It just so happens that when Yoo Man-soo is taking matters into his own hands, Park Chan-wook manages to carve out a very scathing commentary on the capitalism’s role in the job market. But noting that Donald E. Westlake’s novel was written in 1997, there’s a resonance that rings in knowing the fact that supposed innovations are being targeted by major companies and laying off many workers as a result. These of course come in a form of automation, especially as artificial intelligence is being utilized by many companies, often at the expense of human labour. This alone would be enough to make even a perfectly qualified worker ineligible for the role, when the competition gets so intense, you would have to be driven to find ways to eliminate your competition instead of over-qualifying yourself. Meanwhile, that’s where Man-soo’s ineptitude at even carrying out a seemingly simple task of murder comes into play.
Yet, that’s just the very essence of capitalism at play. We’re frequently made to fight other members of our own class just to be able to secure the jobs that we’ve been working at for most of our lives. But an ordinary working man like Man-soo can’t carry out a clean elimination because it’s something that goes against his own principles. The higher-ups don’t seem to care, especially when this doesn’t affect them in their cushy positions whatsoever. Considering the fact that the source novel, being written by an American novel, was first adapted for the screen in France by Costa-Gavras, Park Chan-wook’s spin only affirms that it’s a universal issue. It’s a brilliantly written script, written by Park Chan-wook, Lee Kyoung-mi, Lee Ja-hye, and Toronto writer Don McKellar, one that highlights how much of a reach this concept has. It just so happens that Park Chan-wook might have more in store for you, especially if you know the sorts of films he has made over the years. No Other Choice is devilishly dark and wonderful, and one of the very best of the year.
Watch the trailer right here.
All images via NEON.
Directed by Park Chan-wook
Screenplay by Park Chan-wook, Don McKellar, Lee Kyoung-mi, Lee Ja-hye, from the novel The Ax by Donald E. Westlake
Produced by Park Chan-wook
Starring Lee Byung-hun, Son Ye-jin, Park Hee-soon, Lee Sung-min, Yeom Hye-ran, Cha Seung-won
Premiere Date: August 29, 2025 (Venice)
Running Time: 139 minutes
Cinema from the Spectrum 
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