No Other Choice 4K 2025 Ultra HD 2160p

The main character, Man Su, is fired from the paper factory. To secure a new job, he decides to eliminate his competitors and becomes a serial killer.

User Review

Filmmakers’ reflections on the idea that human beings are inherently evil and that the veneer of civilization can sometimes peel away in an instant may seem like a slightly overused theme to audiences; yet with each passing day, we ourselves are only more convinced that it remains extremely relevant and painful. One of South Korea’s leading directors, Park Chan-wook, is no exception; he has decided to pay homage to the work of the renowned Greek director Costa-Gavras, specifically his film *The Guillotine*, which in turn was adapted from Donald Westlake’s novel *The Axe*. Well, to understand what this man is capable of turning a novel into, you need to see at least “Oldboy,” “Thirst,” or “The Handmaiden”—that’s right, an absolutely insane, delicious, and masterfully directed spectacle awaits you.

Having made a splash a couple of years ago with the wonderful festival hit “Decision to Leave,” the director moves on to a more unrestrained cinematic language, transforming the struggles of the unfortunate Man-su into a wild, expressive hurricane of rich black humor, exaggerated grotesque, and masterfully calibrated suspense. The film begins as a wild black comedy, but Chang-wook weaves tension into it so ingeniously—multiplied by the complex staging—that you don’t even know whether to laugh out loud at what’s happening or marvel at how deftly he transplants Hitchcockian techniques onto hyper-emotional Korean soil. The scene in which Man-soo attacks his first victim to the sound of music blaring at full volume turns out to be one of the most hilarious, delightfully crazy, and at the same time tense scenes in recent memory.

But at the same time, the director doesn’t invite us to laugh at the protagonist, as he wants to lead the viewer to the film’s central message; consequently, from the middle of the film, the tone begins to shift, just as the character himself does. At first, he is a funny and even touching loser, from whom the killer emerges like a sack of potatoes, but gradually he transforms more and more into a vengeful killing machine, for whom the preservation of material possessions and the attainment of his desires become an obsession. Lee Byung-hun, the star of *Squid Game* who plays Man-su, is simply incredible here—he manages to be funny, pitiful, and sinister all at once; like a chameleon, he changes his appearance with every new scene, demonstrating incredible acting versatility. The cinematic universe surrounding him proves just as flexible, masterfully constructed by Park Chan-wook, whose rules of the game are so quickly accepted by the viewer. And it’s striking how, step by step, the director intensifies the drama of what’s unfolding, almost seamlessly stripping the plot of humor and replacing it with bitterness, as a funny tale about a loser gives way to a story of the tragedy of being unwanted and, most importantly, that imperceptible line a person can cross in the race for what they desire, when achieving a cherished goal demands too high a price and is therefore not at all synonymous with triumph.

Info Video

Codec: HEVC / H.265 (74.9 Mb/s)
Resolution: Native 4K (2160p)
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1

Info Audio

#Korean: Dolby TrueHD with Dolby Atmos 7.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
#Korean: Dolby Digital Plus with Dolby Atmos 5.1
#Korean: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)

Info Subtitles