Mickey 17
Bong Joon Ho’s follow up to his Oscar sweeping film, Parasite, continues themes we’ve seen him tackle in the past. The writer/director is interested in adaptation, as well texts that have something to say about how we treat one another as humans, and the economical and social gap between the classes of people. Mickey 17 might be biting off a little more than it can chew, but there’s something charming about its zany setup and the campy performances from a handful of actors that allows it to be entertaining time at the movies.
Robert Pattinson stars as Mickey Barnes, an “expendable,” who has travelled to a far away distant planet to escape a loan shark that is out for his head. His consciousness is loaded to a brick sized computer, and his body is reprinted time and time again as he is tested on and sent out into space, the wilderness, or enduring other experiments to better the colony’s chances of surviving. He is joined but his not so great friend, Timo, played excellently by Steven Yeun; his girlfriend, Nasha, played by Naomi Ackie; and running the shit show that is the ship they are on, is Kenneth Marshall and his wife Ylfa, played by Mark Ruffalo and Toni Collette.
When two Mickey’s are printed at the same time, creating a multiples incident, the Mickey’s battle each other over who is supposed to die, meanwhile Nasha is more excited by the possibilities of sleeping with two polar opposite Mickey’s. Distracting the ship from just eliminating both Mickey’s so to avoid the moral implications of killing one over the other, is the encroaching threat of the ‘Creepers’ on the planet they have landed on. These creatures resemble giant, alien roly-polies, and appear to be a threat. This brings up themes of colonialism, who is the true alien, and what is the right action for diplomatic planetary policies.
The movie is shot beautifully by Darius Khondji, which creates a gorgeous atmosphere between the zany cloning scenes of the film. Pattinson and Ackie’s performances ground the film in their deep and meaningful romance. Meanwhile, Yeun, Ruffalo and Collette provide a campy bewilderment that always keeps the film in its fun science fiction world. With multiple issues in production, it’s actually a shock that this film comes out as cohesive as it does. The main complaint I have is the pacing and editing of it, where sometimes it probably leans too much into its fun comedic scenes, where it should be showcasing more of the plot and deeper themes it’s trying to tackle. Despite this, the comedic scenes land, so I rarely found myself bored during the duration of the film despite its slow pace through the third act.
Viewers may be disappointed in this less than perfect follow up to Parasite, but personally, I enjoyed the less dower sandbox Bong Joon Ho let himself play in in this film. This isn’t nearly as grave as Parasite and Snowpiercer, while still trying to remark on those ideas he is obviously drawn to. With fun performances and witty writing, it’s definitely a great time at the movies, even if it doesn’t take itself too seriously.