Park Chan-wook's New Film 'No Other Choice' Stars Lee Byung-hun as a Job-Hunting Serial Killer

Director Park Chan-wook is set to helm his 12th feature film, No Other Choice, with superstar Lee Byung-hun cast in a darkly comedic lead role: a laid-off family man who decides to murder his competition to land a new job.

According to a report from The Verge, the film opens with Man-su (Lee Byung-hun) as a 'proud patriarch at the barbecue,' the picture of domestic stability. That ideal life quickly unravels after he is laid off from a paper company. Faced with a competitive job market, Man-su realizes, as the source puts it, that his 'best chance at getting hired for his next job is to knock off the three other qualified candidates.'

The film is an adaptation of Donald Westlake's acclaimed crime novel, The Ax. The Verge notes that the story offers 'mirth and pathos and deep social critique' alongside its murders, suggesting a tone that aligns perfectly with Park's signature style of blending brutal thrills with sharp social commentary.

PRISM Insight: The Corporate Vengeance Trilogy

PRISM Insight: No Other Choice sees Park Chan-wook returning to his signature theme: how extreme societal pressures—in this case, corporate precarity—can unravel an ordinary person. It's a modern, white-collar twist on the brutal survivalism seen in his famed Vengeance Trilogy. Instead of a quest for personal revenge, the violence here is transactional, driven by the cold logic of the job market, making it a chilling commentary on the pathologies of modern capitalism.