It’s been quite a few years since Parasite swept the Oscars, but director Bong Joon-ho is finally back, with a return to his genre roots. Based on the novel Mickey7, Mickey 17 is a comedic science fiction story set in a near-future in which humans have begun to explore and colonize other planets. Escaping financial difficulties on Earth, the hapless Mickey Barnes (Robert Pattinson) signs up for one such expedition as an “expendable”—a job that involves dying for the cause only to be re-printed as a clone with the same memories over and over—selling not just his time and labour but his literal life and body.
This is the endpoint of capitalism: human life made expendable for colonization and profit. The body under capitalism is no longer your own—it’s the property of the corporation, to be consumed over and over. And the corporation is not just the corporation, but also church, state, and military all rolled into one.
If the anti-capitalist bent sounds a little heavy-handed, that’s because it is. That’s kinda Bong’s whole thing, but the sledgehammer is particularly unsubtle in Mickey 17. For instance, while Mark Ruffalo isn’t quite doing a straight-up Trump impersonation, it’s close enough (his character’s fanatical followers all wear red hats, for one). He walks that line very well, though, giving a performance that just about reaches the same level of fun he was having in Poor Things, his unhinged energy matched perfectly by Toni Collette, who plays his sauce-obsessed trophy wife.
In general, this is a much more comedic and over-the-top movie than Parasite. While some of the goofiness and quirk probably won’t work for everyone, it is an utterly unique movie nonetheless. There are quite a few laughs to be had here, even if the crowd I saw it with felt a bit muted. I can see the experience really being elevated by a good crowd.
That’s not to say I didn’t have fun, because I did. It’s hard not to get a kick out of Robert Pattinson’s excellent chemistry with Robert Pattinson. He is, by far, the best part of this movie, giving a fantastic performance as Mickey in all his iterations. He’s one of the most compelling working actors we’ve got, and the physicality and voice work he does here is some of the best he’s done yet (with an assist from the excellent VFX and body double work that went into cloning him on screen). If nothing else, the movie is worth seeing for Pattinson alone.
But there is a lot more to this film than that central performance, for better and worse. The movie has some interesting world-building and raises a lot of very meaty philosophical questions, but where it falls short is in actually diving deeper into its themes and resolving all of its many threads.
There are subplots and side characters that don’t really go anywhere very satisfying, and the pacing feels somewhat off. While not the most egregiously paced film I’ve seen, I could definitely feel the 2 hour 17 minute runtime and felt like the movie could have shed a few subplots to really explore some of the more interesting philosophical and political questions it raises.
While far from terrible, this is not nearly as sharp or tight as, say, Parasite or even Snowpiercer, which feels a lot more focused despite treading in similar genre territory and having a similarly on-the-nose approach to its thematic concerns.
Despite these flaws, I still had a good time with this one. The cast is amazing across the board, the creatures and humour and oddness mostly all work, and it’s all anchored around a standout performance(s) from Pattinson. I just wish it had all come together a bit more neatly.
Verdict
Mickey 17 has all the hallmarks of a great Bong Joon-ho film: in-your-face anti-capitalist messaging, cute/terrifying CGI creatures, oddball non-sequitur humour, and a snowy sci-fi backdrop. Robert Pattinson acts the hell out of a multi-faceted role, and the movie explores some very interesting themes and ideas, which all makes for an enjoyable experience. However, its lack of sharp direction and slightly bloated pacing situate this as a lower-tier entry in Bong’s filmography.
Shea Angus