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There’s no telling whether Park Chan-wook is a fan of the Sex Pistols. But during his latest film, No Other Choice, I found myself pondering the line John Lydon memorably uttered during the band’s disastrous final performance in 1978: “Ever get the feeling you’ve been cheated?” No Other Choice is 139 minutes centered on such a feeling––what it means to be cheated by employers, competitors, and artificial intelligence. It is also about what it takes to fight back––really fight back.
The result is a messier film than the remarkable Decision to Leave, but no less impactful. Park directs with thrilling rage––no surprise coming from the director of the legendary Oldboy. What’s different this time, though, is a “ripped from the headlines” feel that is oh-so-2025. The failure of employers to properly protect and compensate workers, the threat of AI, and the erasure of the individual are clearly issues as pressing in South Korea as they are in North America. It’s doubtful any filmmaker has tackled these matters quite like Park.
Based on Donald Westlake’s novel The Ax––and co-written by Don McKellar!––No Other Choice begins on a day of hard-earned domestic bliss for Man-soo (Lee Byung-hun). Manning the grill at his beloved childhood home, surprising his wife with expensive shoes, pausing to admire his son, daughter, and giant dogs, Man-soo realizes he has everything he could ever want. And why shouldn’t he? His employer, Solar Paper, named him Pulp Man of the Year, and even sent the eel he is grilling up.
These joys quickly disappear. Solar Power’s new owners are making cuts; the eel was a farewell offering. Man-soo and many others are soon unemployed and questioning their worth as providers. What are these men without their paper industry jobs? How can they move forward? And what will happen to the tennis and cello lessons, to say nothing of the Netflix account? These are the questions Man-soo struggles with, and there are no easy answers as he awkwardly interviews for other paper industry gigs.
At this point, No Other Choice has remarkably identified several of the major problems facing workers in the 21st century, like a pitch-black comedy on the perils of unemployment. And then it pivots to something darker, more unhinged, even more incendiary. Man-soo develops a (hard-to-follow, initially) plan to vault ahead of the other paper industry vets angling for work. The less one knows about this plan, the better. But it’s safe to reveal that No Other Choice is nearly as violent as Oldboy and as merciless in its plotting.
Like the main character’s actions, Park’s film is rather undisciplined in its development. Yet it’s downright exhilarating to watch such a skilled director unleash his fury. It’s also deliriously funny, most notably a drink-off featuring one of cinema’s harshest tooth extractions. Westlake famously authored Point Blank, and No Other Choice certainly evinces the author’s dark humor and toughness. And through it all is the great Lee Byung-hun, the perfect foil for Park’s big swings.
The blood-drenched No Other Choice concludes with a delightfully acidic “happy” ending to fit the overarching tone of Park’s film. The only firm response to being cheated, this film posits, is to cheat right back. A bleak message, surely. But if the Pulp Man of the Year could be treated with such contempt, who can fight the logic?
No Other Choice screened at TIFF 2025 and opens in theaters on December 25 before expanding in January.
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