Writer/director Bong Joon Ho vaulted into the mainstream consciousness with the success of 2019’s Parasite, winner of four Academy awards including Best Picture, the first international feature to do so. With that momentum in mind, his return to the big screen has been highly anticipated and he finally returns to multiplexes with his follow-up Mickey 17.
After getting into debt with a loan shark following a failed business move, Mickey Barnes (Robert Pattinson) flees Earth for a new colony named Nilfheim as an “expendable”, a disposable clone worker who takes on dangerous assignments and experimentation that is often fatal, with a new body being created each time he dies. Following one mission, one of his clone number 17 survives and returns to the colony, meeting his replacement Mickey 18 and breaking the prohibition on duplicate persons put in place by Nilfheim’s leaders Kenneth Marshall (Mark Ruffalo) and his wife Gwen (Toni Collette). The two versions now have to balance coexistence, their love for Mickey’s girlfriend Nasha (Naomi Ackie), and the fight against the oppressive leaders governing the colony.
Aside from Parasite, Bong Joon Ho’s directorial calling card has always been mixing science-fiction genre fare with deep social commentary. Mickey 17 finds him returning to his bread and butter following his monumental 2019 using the film’s story to explore exploitation within capitalist systems, the rise of authoritarianism worldwide, medical experimentation, and genocidal colonialism. If these sound like a large number of themes to explore within a film in a little over two hours, that’s because it is and Mickey 17 ultimately suffers for it. This is a film with a lot of things it’d like to say and as a result, ends up not fleshing out its themes as well as it could due to trying to cover too much ground. Perhaps the film’s fatal flaw is best encapsulated by the over-the-top performance by Ruffalo as the film’s lead antagonist, a stand-in for wannabe authoritarians nationwide. Ruffalo overly chews scenery, his threat as leader and commentary on the dangerous nature of those who would seek to rule unilaterally lost in his goofy depiction of a fascist. If his threat had been more grounded, his plans for dictatorial rule more detailed and explored, Marshall could have made more of an impact as a character. The theme exploring the ethics of cloning and killing human beings as a means of having an endless labor force that can be physically exploited is the focus of the film’s first two acts and while mildly interesting, Bong never dives too deeply into the questions that arise, even never fully answers the reoccurring one posed to Mickey, “What does it feel like to die?” The character never quite provides an answer despite how many times it’s posed and Pattinson’s skillful portrayal of a person obviously affected mentally by his repeated confrontation with his own mortality.
The centipede-like bug creatures that inhabit Nilfheim touch upon Bong’s interest in the issue of animal cruelty, a callback to 2017’s Okja, and colonialism and genocide as humanity seeks to settle the planet. The third act focuses on this story element and is when the film shines brightest, but one is left to wonder how much stronger of a film this could have been had it focused more on this aspect earlier during the second act where it drags while focusing on the undercooked cloning aspect and romance between the Mickeys, Nasha, and another passenger named Kai Katz, played by Anamaria Vartolomei.
Despite the script and story’s half baked form, the main actors in the film provide strong performances led by Pattinson in both lead and supporting roles that are completely different but both very strong. He at once plays a bumbling, sweet, naive, Mickey 17 while also providing an edgy, slightly malevolent counterpart in Mickey 18. Their personalities couldn’t be more different, but Pattinson makes them feel distinct with different voices, cadences, and personalities. He’s joined by Ackie who may well be the brightest shining star in the film providing just as much emotion and fervor as his love interest and protector Nasha. Ackie has a commanding presence alongside a touch of both nurturing and cunning that compliments both Mickeys’ personalities. Collette on the other hand is just as plodding and distracting as her antagonist counterpart Ruffalo, a caricature that adds little to the film.
Mickey 17 feels ultimately feels like a rehash of Bong Joon Ho’s previous entries like Okja, Snowpiercer, and The Host, with even more social commentary stuffed in, to the detriment of the overall film. Robert Pattinson and Naomi Ackie both shine, Ackie in particular, despite not receiving much help from their antagonists in Mark Ruffalo and Toni Collette, who both at times felt they were acting in a different, even sillier film. Still, Mickey 17 isn’t a total waste as it does feature some genuinely funny material, decent enough undercooked social commentary, and quality visual effects. You’ll never quite be bored by the film even though will notice that it doesn’t quite follow through on its potential. It’s a return to cinematic roots for Bong, though not necessarily a return to form.
Image: Warner Bros.
