Man-su (Lee Byung-hun) has it all. A perfect wife, two children, two dogs and the perfect home. He has worked at a paper company his entire life and is a respected senior manager. That is until his company is taken over by an American competitor and he finds himself made redundant along with many of his colleagues. The competitor had “no other choice” if they wanted to make things work. After being unemployed and working menial jobs for quite some time he is at risk of losing everything. Then he stumbles on a crazy idea, he could improve his employment chances if his biggest competitors were dead. After all, he has “no other choice”.

No Other Choice is the latest film from Park Chan-wook, possibly most famous for Oldboy and whose most recent film Decision To Leave was also rather special. His latest takes its aim at male mid-life crisis and the manner in which automation is changing the face of the workplace in a darkly satirical film about a family man turned murderer. In a world where A.I. is seemingly coming for everyone’s jobs what else would anyone do to stay afloat?

Man-su is unable to accept that his status as a valued member of the paper industry is over and essentially equates his career status as success. A value echoed by the competitors whom he stalks in an effort to make himself the frontrunner for future job opportunities. As his morals slowly break down his plans to eliminate his competition accelerate. The result is darkly funny and occasionally wince inducing. The fact that both actor and director manage to balance our protagonist so that he is relatable and not quite a monster is a masterpiece. 

The best facet of any Park Chan-wook feature though is often his set pieces and visual inventiveness. This is especially true here, if I at times felt that the humour did not always land perfectly I was always impressed with how things looked. There are some wonderfully inventive camera moves and positioning that make for a visually arresting film. One particular set piece in the film manages to nail both the humour, absurdity and visually brilliant style when Man-su finds his murder attempt interrupted by his target’s wife. A woman not necessarily unsympathetic to Man-su’s cause. It is a hilarious and brilliantly staged piece of cinema.

If you are looking to rage against the corporate machine that so many of us find ourselves slave to then this is the pitch black comedy for you. It walks a delicate tightrope on tone but mostly works.