Director Bong Joon Ho laughs in the face of subtlety as his furious, manic energy gives Mickey 17 its vivacious life.
Following the critical triumph of his 2019 Oscar-winning Parasite, the director makes a gleeful return to his roots with a weird, messy, and ambitious film. Tackling anti-capitalistic messaging with a Ren & Stimpy-inspired lead performance, Looney Tunes humor through intergalactic travel, and a genuine and sweet romance at its center, Mickey 17 perfectly encapsulates everything that makes the filmmaker one of the very best.
Mickey 17 isn’t the director’s best film, sitting somewhere in the middle of the pack along with another one of his English-language releases, the environmentalist-friendly Okja. However, its outlandish, gutsy, reach for and then beyond the fence’s approach to big-budget mayhem is so tangibly ecstatic that it makes the shortcomings palatable. The pacing is a little all over the place, and it doesn’t dig quite as deep as we may like, but its furious energy and Robert Pattinson’s committed performance alleviate those missteps. It’s bold, audacious, and fun, with three key features glaring in their absence in so many major theatrical releases.
Written and directed by Bong, the film takes place in a not-so-distant future where space travel is a hot commodity for corrupt talk show hosts/failed politicians. Based on the 2022 novel Mickey7 by Edward Ashton, the film follows Mickey (Pattinson) who, after a failed business venture when his untrustworthy friend, Timo (a hilarious Steven Yeun), decides to take to the stars to avoid a murderous loan shark. However, in his desperation to escape, the aw-shucks, sincere Mickey fails to truly read the fine print of the role he’s choosing. He joins the space colony as an “Expendable,” a disposable worker cloned every time he dies.
Bong Joon Ho balances a cacophony of tones.
As the “expendable” employee, the company subjects Mickey to hellacious drug trials and experiments as the expedition seeks to colonize the ice world Niflheim. When one Mickey dies, they print another one out with his same DNA and memories. While some of them have slight personality variations, such as being more sullen or increasingly clingy, they all share the core features of what makes Mickey, Mickey.
The first third of Mickey 17 patiently reveals each core piece of the narrative as it builds this contained and claustrophobic world. Despite the intensive grays that dominate their world, Bong finds a necessary pocket of levity and warmth in the romance between Mickey and his girlfriend, Nasha (a magnetic Naomi Ackie). It’s the director’s first real romance in any of his films, and it helps anchor the story and makes Mickey more than just a hapless victim to the machine, literally chewing and spitting him back out again. His decency and her inherent heroism make for a charming pair, aided by Pattinson and Ackie’s chemistry.
By the time Mickey’s double arrives, and the two must deal with the existence of multiples in this world, the film takes off. Pattinson has the time of his life in the dual performances, leaning into his latest foray and abrasive vocal acting choices. But it’s his physicality that shines, too, painting a convincing portrait of a man in dire need of protection, either from his girlfriend or his duplicate. Mickey 17’s hunched shoulders versus 18’s righteous anger makes for a fantastic divide as we watch how this recessed part of Mickey’s subconscious might manifest.
Mickey 17 doesn’t care for subtlety.
The anger is evident in the film, even if the tone revels in comedy, too. While not all of Mark Ruffalo’s choices as the corrupt politician Kenneth Marshall work, the character himself lands with urgency. There’s no subtlety in his band of fooled followers in their matching red hats. The film actively pushes back against capitalism and how the most powerful will always see those who live without as the most susceptible to abuse and manipulation.
Mickey isn’t seen as a human — he’s seen as an asset and a disposable one. The allegory is surface-level about how we’re conditioned to believe that companies will care for us, only to be shocked when they throw us away. But the film doesn’t need delicacy when broaching the topic and instead embraces its declaration. Director Bong has never shied away from direct conversations, and his English-language films, in particular, lean heavily on allegory and messaging. Snowpiercer is his most egregious, but Okja certainly had its significant effect (I went back to vegetarianism / brief veganism following the release of this film.)
But Bong’s commitment to finding heart in the ludicrous and the vitality of absurdism makes his work so compelling. He isn’t trying to toe the line; he’s diving headfirst into strong conceptual science fiction. Mickey 17 thrives in its visuals, with beautifully designed creatures, the ‘creepers.’ Both repulsive and adorable, the creepers have distinctive personalities that call back to classic films. There are touches of Star Wars, Labyrinth, and more in their sound effects and rendering. Their addition and plot don’t always effectively move the story forward, but it’s yet another way the film defies expectations.
The bottom line.
Mickey 17 is a messy yet admirable addition to Bong Joon Ho’s ambitious filmography. Aided by a committed and oddly charismatic Pattinson, the film should be a rallying cry for other directors and storytellers: it’s time to get weird.
Mickey 17 is now playing in theaters everywhere. Watch the trailer here.
Images courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures. Read more articles by Allyson Johnson here.
REVIEW RATING
-
Mickey 17 - 8/10
8/10
Based in New England, Allyson is co-founder and Editor-in-Chief of InBetweenDrafts. Former Editor-in-Chief at TheYoungFolks, she is a member of the Boston Society of Film Critics and the Boston Online Film Critics Association. Her writing has also appeared at CambridgeDay, ThePlaylist, Pajiba, VagueVisages, RogerEbert, TheBostonGlobe, Inverse, Bustle, her Substack, and every scrap of paper within her reach.
