Review: No Other Choice

Official synopsis: After being unemployed for several months, Man-su (Lee Byung-hun) devises a unique plan to secure a new job: eliminate his competition.

Director Park Chan-wook keeps delivering us hit after hit, and yet the Academy refuses to nominate him. This film was South Korea's submission for Best International Film at this years Oscars, where it unfortunately missed and after watching it, I can confirm they've made a grave mistake.

No Other Choice is a dark comedy. It starts with a happy, almost dream like moment between Man-su and his family before his gradual descent into an over the top plan to kill off his competition to get back into the Paper business. It has to be paper. That's what he knows and what he's good at. Nothing else will do. 

Lee Byung-hun gives a great performance. He really makes you think for a while that he won't go through with what he's about to do, and when everything starts playing out, he still gives you hope that he might not completely break bad....at first anyways. The fact that he plays Man-su perfectly at his most innocent and his most sinister is a testament to how great of an actor he is. Park's director also handles both of these scenarios perfectly. It's funny when it needs to be, sometimes even in an over the top way, and also very creepy when it has to go there.

The story does drag a bit when it gets to the final act. Even though this isn't a long film, you can tell that it should be coming to its conclusion long before it does, but that is a minor complaint considering how strong the rest of the film is.

Grade: A-