Rating: 8/10
“No Other Choice” is a cruelly relevant, laugh-out-loud funny addition to Park Chan-wook’s already impressive filmography. With this new release, the director further solidifies his talent for transforming the desperation and failures of human nature into concepts as thought-provoking as they are shocking or entertaining.
Axed from a long-held position in the paper industry, Man-su (Lee Byung-hun) faces years of frustrating under-employment and unemployment. With a family to support, bills to pay and a changing field he refuses to quit on, Man-su’s thirst to get back in the game results in an audacious plan. He sets out to kill any candidate who may be more qualified than him for a competitive role, including the man currently holding it.
The most memorable aspects of “No Other Choice,” even with its action-involved sequences, stand to be its quieter, less flashy qualities. Its direction (by Park), editing (by Kim Sang-beom, a frequent collaborator of Park) and cinematography (by Kim Woo-hyung) come together to form a film that, despite its outlandishness, finds grounding through its subtleties.
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The film incorporates cleverly placed fade-ins that are as revealing of the character’s inner workings as dialogue would be. Alongside those, it also uses beautiful natural landscapes to emphasize the intersections and battles between nature, paper and machines. The film also features various intentional blocking choices and physical comedy that make the audience appreciate and notice non-verbal cues more than most movies do.
The action sequences further contribute to the strength of the movie. As Man-su continues on his quest to eliminate his competition, each step along the way feels like a new chapter with its own unique focus. Although on paper he’s repeatedly doing the same thing — that is, killing people — innovative and intentional choices save the film from feeling repetitive. Each of his victims help highlight and critique a different problem Man-su is trying to overcome, and each killing happens in an unforeseen way.
Through this series of killings, Man-su’s personal problems are reflected in his victims in ways that flesh him out much better than expected for a murderous protagonist. This helps the film go beyond just critiquing the job market, and explores Man-su’s relationship with addiction, his wife and his children.
The film is accompanied by a catchy soundtrack, music from which elevates all scenes it’s present in. There’s one scene in particular where a song plays louder than expected and helps craft an originally funny and captivating scene with “Tom and Jerry”–level theatrics and goofs.
With a premise as bold as this, it’s good that “No Other Choice” is fully committed to its absurdity. Man-su has been pushed to his limits, and any attempts to justify his plan to kill would have been unbelievable. The film doesn’t spend too much time focusing on his mental transition to brutality, which, although unconventional, ends up working in its favor.
When introduced, his decision to eliminate his competition happens much faster than expected. This sudden switch, unfortunately, makes it harder for Man-su’s moral dilemmas later on in the film to truly feel genuine, since viewers also just saw him plot to murder a man with very little hesitation.
“No Other Choice” works as both a biting, satirical social critique and a slapstick comedy; a very hard combination to pull off without diluting the power of the work’s message. Although the film received no nods at the Oscars and has been mostly overlooked by American audiences, it is one of the best new releases of 2025.
