Overview
- The 2025 feature reimagines Donald E. Westlake’s 1997 novel The Ax, which was previously adapted by Costa-Gavras in 2005.
- Critics describe a pitch-black comedy about a downsized paper-company manager who plots to eliminate job rivals, using the premise to skewer corporate restructuring.
- Several reviews frame the film’s themes in the context of workforce anxieties in the age of AI.
- Lee Byung-hun’s performance draws particular acclaim for mixing relatability, desperation and morbid humor.
- Park’s collaboration with cinematographer Kim Woo-hyung is praised for precise, visually striking compositions, even as reviewers fault the film’s overlong runtime and digressions.