No Other Choice review: A dark comedy that peaks too soon
South Korean director Park Chan-wook can turn his hand to many different genres, from action thriller with Oldboy, erotic psychology thriller with The Handmaiden and most recently, romantic mystery with 2022’s Decision to Leave. He’s now pivoted to black comedy with his latest No Other Choice.
Lee Byung-hun stars as Yoo Man-su, a loyal, award-winning employee of a papermaking company who is made redundant after 25 years. He is unable to get a new paper job for more than a year and is at risk of losing his beloved home. Desperate, Man-su identifies his competition and decides to kill them off to ensure he gets a job at Moon Paper.
Unfortunately for Man-su, he’s not very good at killing people. While he has a good plan, he can’t bring himself to execute it. He often chickens out at the last minute, makes mistakes or creates a big mess. The first example of this is the film’s standout sequence. It’s a comedy of errors and absolutely hilarious. It’s filmed and choreographed perfectly, with no beat or shot out of place. It is a brilliant farce and more of an all-out comedy than the other kill attempts.
Unfortunately, the rest of the film doesn’t live up to this peak moment. The other kill situations don’t have the same vibe. While they were slightly amusing, because Man-su is such an amateur, I didn’t find them particularly funny. In fact, I felt sorry for one of his competitors and thought one of the means of death was too dark, even for a black comedy.
I’ve only ever seen Byung-hun in Squid Game, where he plays the Front Man, so it was a delight to see him in comedy mode, playing the bumbling fool. Besides the incompetent kill sequences, he is also funny in other moments, such as a fancy dress dance sequence and barking like a dog. Son Ye-jin is also entertaining as Man-su’s wife Lee Mi-ri, and Yeom Hye-ran is my favourite supporting star as the hilariously weird wife of one of Man-su’s competitors.
No Other Choice, based on The Ax by Donald E. Westlake, is an amusing dark comedy that peaks too soon. The first half is fantastic (no notes!) but the second half fails to live up to that high standard.
In cinemas from Friday 23rd January