South Korean Superstar Lee Byung-hun Shows Off His Leading Man Charisma and Comedic Chops in ‘No Other Choice’

In “No Other Choice,” Lee Byung-hun projects everyman desperation (think Pottersville-era Jimmy Stewart in “It’s a Wonderful Life”), movie star charisma (his looks are remarked upon in the film quite a bit) and the comic chops to pull off such a complex role.

Park Chan-wook’s darkly humorous drama launched at the 2025 Venice Film Festival in competition, earning rave reviews. At Toronto, the film won the International People’s Choice Award. The film has been earning critics’ groups kudos and awards nominations, including three Gotham awards and three Golden Globes nominations — with Lee nominated for Globes best actor trophy. (This Variety extra edition went to press before the Golden Globes ceremony Jan. 11.)

And no wonder: in these rocky economic times, “No Other Choice” is entirely relatable.

Lee plays Man-su, who has worked hard at a paper manufacturing plant for 25 years, devoted to his career while also helping to build, with his wife, a solid middle-class life for his family. Living the dream, right?

Wrong. Man-su is let go by new owners, and his comfortable life is upended. Job interviews are disastrous. His teenage son can’t believe they have to cancel Netflix. They even have to give their dogs to a relative to care for. And the job market is tough for a middle-aged manager. All this pushes Man-su to cook up a plan to identify the top candidates for jobs he’s gunning for — and murder them. Simple.

Based on Donald Westlake’s noir “The Ax,” Park’s adaptation is a tale for our times, a comment on how little fast-moving businesses in their pursuit of riches value their workers.

South Korean superstar Lee’s modulated performance in “No Other Choice” — angry, funny, loving, even slapstick — has been hailed by critics, and he’s not an unknown quantity to audiences outside his home territory, having made some big-budget Hollywood films like “G.I Joe: The Rise of Cobra” and its sequel, “Red 2” and “Terminator Genisys.” He’s also toplined some of the biggest South Korean movies in the last couple of decades, including “Concrete Utopia,” “Masquerade,” “Inside Men,” “I Saw the Devil” and “Joint Security Area,” which kicked off his collaboration and friendship with Park.

His turn in “Choice” shows his range, especially for audiences who only know him from his steely, eerie turn on “Squid Game.”

In that global blockbuster series from Netflix, Lee’s Front Man is the opposite of Man-su, a powerful figure in the shadows who oversees a deadly game in which participants literally die in pursuit of prize money. He’s a puppet master with a tragic past but shows a flicker of humanity in the series’ finale — and maybe that’s respect, too — for player 456, Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae). He also gets an intense moment in Season 3 with Cate Blanchett in which they both telegraph a lot without saying anything.

And if being in two of South Korea’s biggest exports over the last two years isn’t enough, Lee is also one of the voice actors in another Netflix phenomenon: “KPop Demon Hunters.”

But that’s Lee’s gift: The handsome superstar upending tropes in Parks’ latest skewering of society, jumping into an animated musical and letting the world know he’s more than just a Front Man for a degenerate game.