Overview
- The 2025 South Korean feature reimagines Donald E. Westlake’s The Ax after Costa-Gavras’s 2005 adaptation, placing the story in contemporary Korea.
- Lee Byung-hun plays Man-su, a laid-off paper-factory veteran who targets job rivals in a darkly comic, stylized thriller shaped by unemployment and automation anxieties.
- Critics commend Park’s formal control and set-piece precision but fault uneven pacing, comic digressions, and a tilt toward self-parody.
- Park says humor and tragedy are inseparable and that the film’s comedy grows from despair, a view Lee echoes in describing Man-su’s choices as both absurd and deeply felt.
- Key credits include Son Ye-jin co-starring, a screenplay by Park, Lee Kyoung-mi, Don McKellar, and Jahye Lee, cinematography by Kim Woo-hyung, and music by Cho Young-wuk; running time is 139 minutes and it is currently in theaters with a 13+ rating.