Hello everyone and welcome back to a brand new review! This time around, I will be taking a look at the latest feature film from acclaimed, South Korean director, Bong Joon-Ho. His work is well regarded by many a cinephile and he is arguably most known for the film, Parasite, which won various Oscars back in 2020, including for best film and director. I have sadly, not gotten the chance to see his filmography yet, but better late than never to start now with his first Hollywood production, Mickey 17! This has been one that I have been excited for ever since it was first announced as I’m a sucker for big budget sci fi films and think that Robert Pattinson is a fantastic actor with a lot of range. Plus, I just thought the premise sounded very interesting and the trailers teased a darkly comedic sci fi story with a lot of satire thrown in. Now, after many delays, it has finally arrived. Did it live up to its potential? Let’s jump right in and see if this movie needed as much do overs as its protagonist!
Based off the novel, Mickey 7, by Edward Ashton, the plot follows a guy named Mickey Barnes, who got himself into some shady dealing back on Earth. Needing a way to escape, he signs up to join a space ship expedition to colonize the icy planet known as Niflheim. He signs up to be Expendable, which is a job that involves being given extremely lethal assignments, where he dies and gets re printed with the use of cloning technology in order to run experiments for the ship’s scientists. Upon landing on the planet, Mickey and some others stumble upon the planet’s native lifeforms, which they dub “creepers”, which pose an obstacle in regards to colonization. After failing to capture one for analysis, Mickey is left for dead, with another one presumably being cloned for the occasion. However, he is able to survive and when he comes back he comes face to face with his replacement, Mickey 18, and from there chaos begins to ensue.
There is always the fear when a big deal auteur moves into big budget Hollywood filmmaking, that they would lose a bit of their voice in the process due to the demands of making something appealing for as many general audiences as possible. Thankfully, it doesn’t seem like this was the case with this film as this feels like Bong Joon-Ho’s uncompromised vision and I thought it worked quite well for the most part. It definitely tries to juggle different plots, themes, and genres, but it never felt too overwhelming to the point where it felt exhausting. It is able to strike an impressive balance of being an unabashedly over the top satire that deals with different themes and a thoughtful rumination on self identity and worth and how one views themselves and pushes forward to be a better person. I think the film also does a solid job conveying its different messages including colonialism in how we see these explorers try to take over the Creepers’s planet without even considering their livelihood as well as classicism and how that shapes the characters in the film and their actions.
Is it subtle in conveying these points? Absolutely not, but Ho is able to make it work thanks to the chaotic energy he is able to successfully bring to the table where scenes can start out simple enough, but escalate to such a degree where things become crazier and something is able to be conveyed so well (a scene involving a dinner is a highlight in this regard). The comedy also lands consistently with plenty of great dark comedy involving Mickey’s predicaments and the absurdity of the situations going on at times. I will admit, that the pacing can be pretty uneven at times. Things do get off to a bit of a slow start and I do wonder if the film really needed to be as long as it was. Fortunately it does improve as it goes along in this regard with the story becoming more investing and just the overall vibes of the picture (almost lazy river like in terms of flow) hitting for me, but I can see how this might test the patience of some audience members as it isn’t quite an action packed sci fi extravaganza like one might think.
Was it a financially smart decision to spend this much on an original Sci fi comedy like this? It’s a risk for sure, but from a quality perspective, I’m glad they did! This is an impressive film in regards to craftsmanship with Ho really crafting something has a nice, where everything just clicks well on a technical level. It’s absolutely beautiful from a visual perspective with fantastic cinematography from Darius Khondji (who previously worked with Ho on Okja) and impressive visual effects work that helps bring this world to life. Both the world of Niflheim and the ship feel fully realized with their harsh conditions getting the point across well and I thought the Creepers made for nicely done visual creations that manage to convey a lot of personality despite no words or facial features.
Ho is also very good at utilizing the space of the ship to symbolize a lot of the messages based on class and status and how the characters fit into this world. The production designers only helped in achieving that with this really feeling like a ship that may be big, but only has so much to offer to most of the inhabitants. Editing wise, I also think Yang Jin-Mo did a great job here, as while the structure of the story can be a tad clunky, he is able to make it all flow fairly well and brings a lot of energy to the more effusive scenes where things just go to hell. Adding to all of this is the music Jung Jae-il provides which takes a mostly classical approach, but still manages to serve the different parts of the film well.
The main selling point of this film though, is that one gets to watch Rob Pattinson play multiple versions of himself and die in grotesque ways. We get plenty of that here and per usual, Pattinson is fantastic here. Some may have to get used to the… Little Nicky type voice he has here, but I personally thought it suited the film and character and shows he’s not afraid to go a little weird with his work. He does a good job portraying the different parts of Mickey which come along in the forms of Mickey 17 and 18 and he is able to make them into two very different personalities. He plays both the unsure and often times very naive half and the rage prone, cynical side extremely well, showing a great amount of versatility as a performer and making Mickey into an interesting, well rounded character. I quite enjoying seeing the journey Mickey goes on in regards to finding his self worth and standing up to what society expects from him and that he is his own person. It makes for a powerful arc and as comical as the scenes of Mickey dying can be, there is more to them as the film explores the idea of death, the desensitization of it (Mickey getting used to it while everyone acts normal) and what it can be like to lose one’s life over and over again.
The rest of the cast is stacked with plenty of talented individuals that manage to stand out in their own way. For one, Naomi Ackie is a lot of fun as ship security agent and Mickey’s love interest, Nasha, who has a fiery passion to her and the impact she has on Mickey’s life only adds to the emotional core of the film. Their relationship is quite nice and exudes a lot more sexual energy than one is used to in big budget films like this. Steven Yeun is also very entertaining as Mickey’s friend who is also on the run from the same loan shark, Timo, who is honestly not a great friend, but is the only person Mickey has for a while. Yeun is able add more layers to this character than one would expect and he gets more interesting the more the film goes on with him serving as a solid contrast to Mickey. On the villains side of things we have Mark Ruffalo as Kenneth Marshal, a former congressman who runs the colony and is very much a big part of why things are as not ideal in this setting. He makes for a fun, often moronic, yet potentially destructive foe with Ruffalo hamming it up in a performance that is obviously meant to invoke the current administration (and it was a portrayal that worked for me). Toni Collette is also very unhinged as his wife, Ylfa, who herself is quite devious and has a strange obsession with sauce. Everyone else play their roles well even if there are some side characters such as Anamaria Vatolomei’s Gemma, or Holiday Grainger’s Gemma, that are set up to potentially play a bigger part, but then are kind of sidelined.
Overall, I had a great time with Mickey 17 and found it to be an interesting and compelling sci fi tale. It can be a bit clunky in regards to structure and pacing, which does prevent it from being a full blown classic of the genre. Yet it is still very funny, has a lot on its mind, is able to balance all of its different elements well, is visually spectacular, well made, and has some great performances including a game Robert Pattinson. Those who are more familiar with Bong Joon-Ho’s work are likely to catch all of his traits more readily than I and they may think differently of it. This is definitely not going to be for everyone as I totally understand if people come out being mixed on it or not liking it at all. But for me, this was totally on my wavelength and I can’t wait to check out Ho’s previous work when I get the chance. Plus, it’s just nice to see a major studio take a risk in greenlighting a project like this where the director’s vision is so clearly on the screen. Gotta appreciate those when they happen!
Rating: A-
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