Those whose familiarity with director Bong Joon Ho starts and stops with his Oscar-winning “Parasite,” his follow-up film to that 2019 breakout hit may be confused. Those with a more profound knowledge of Joon Ho’s filmography will recognize the same over-the-top sensibilities that mark his work in the sci-fi genre with movies like “Snowpiercer” and “Okja.”
Joon Ho is not a subtle filmmaker, and “Mickey 17” isn’t afraid to take its satirical approach to future society into absurdist territories. Working from his screenplay adapted from Edward Ashton’s novel “Mickey 7,” Joon Ho leans into black comedy territory to tell the story of a man, Mickey Barnes (Robert Pattinson), on the lower rungs of a future-dystopian Earth society who signs up to be an “expendable” on a planetary colonization expedition led by a zealous failed politician turned religious-cult leader, played to the extreme by Mark Ruffalo.
Pattinson, who continues a successful pivot from the matinee-idol moniker that threatened him after the “Twilight” series and into parts that lend plenty of opportunities to distinguish himself as an actor who takes risks, is compelling as the wimpish Barnes. We learn much of the details of this saga from Barnes’ voiceover, which runs the risk of being annoying, but Pattinson’s commitment to this amusing underdog finds the charm and humor of this everyman’s plight. As an “expendable,” Barnes has signed on to a life of certain death. And by death, I mean die, reprint, die, and reprint again. In this future world, reprinting a human body and re-loading its memories are possible, although not entirely sanctioned on Earth. But in space, no one can hear you repeatedly scream as you die in horrific ways, sometimes due to the dangerous nature of the physical assignment and other times due to barbaric scientific experiments designed to test the environment of the planet these colonizers are trying to inhabit.
The fun in “Mickey 17’s” first act is learning how Mickey Barnes got himself into the situation and watching him die repeatedly. What sustains the film is what happens when Mickey, version 17, is left for dead, doesn’t die, and a newly printed Mickey 18 is running around. A “multiple” is strictly forbidden for reasons I won’t spoil here, and many intriguing dynamics come into play when Mickey 17 must navigate a more alpha personality in Mickey 18.
If you’ve seen Joon Ho’s “Snowpiercer” and “Okja,” you’ll recognize the director’s penchant for crafting cartoonish villains who are so over-the-top they stretch believability, even for a science fiction movie. Ruffalo’s performance, with a ridiculous set of pearly white choppers, and Toni Collette’s, as Ruffalo’s wife Ylfa Marshall, may not be everyone’s taste. Steven Yeun, who also appeared in Joon Ho’s “Okja,” also goes a bit more “dialed up” than perhaps was necessary and may seem out of step for most movies, but in a Joon Ho world, they are par for the course. It’s Pattinson, however, who plays it just right, and his ability to concoct multiple versions of a character on screen while seeming distinct and realistic is quite a feat of acting and visual effect razzle-dazzle that gives an audience plenty to marvel at, even if the style of humor won’t satisfy everyone.
With CGI visual effects a staple of every action and sci-fi genre, finding a movie that distinguishes itself as a wonder of the craft gets more challenging. “Mickey 17” excels in the visual world Joon Ho creates. The effects, from the seamless integration of multiple Pattinsons on the screen to the wondrous creation of a planet inhabited by what the movie and book called “Creepers,” are nothing short of astonishing. I’m not sure I’ll see another film in 2025 that pulls off visual effects of this caliber. It’s a testament to Joon Ho’s imagination and skill as a filmmaker, the stellar cinematography of Darius Khondji, and the effects team led by Vince Abbott. I caught a film screening in IMAX, and the movie’s look, feel, and sound screamed “big screen entertainment.” I wasn’t sorry that I made the trip.
There is always a social commentary running through the lifeblood of all Joon Ho’s films. It’s one of the things that made “Parasite” such a hit with mainstream audiences. Here, “Mickey 17” is no different. We recognize the same ego-mania drive of Elon Musk and his seeming desire to control the world and other worlds in Mark Ruffalo’s Kenneth Marshall. And there is a not-so-subtle warning of a future where the class distinction is so great that the only way to succeed is to sign one’s life away to corporate experimentation. And, while James Cameron spends his later filmmaking endeavors waxing on the hubris of man trying to conquer nature through the colonization of other planets, Joon Ho makes a much more compelling pitch in “Mickey 17,” where Mickey Barnes’ good nature and humanity (ignored by many of the other characters in the film) is championed by the delightful herd of planetary inhabitants, the “creepers.”
Sadly, in today’s world, where getting people into a movie theater post-pandemic relies on some mysterious combination of factors that Hollywood has yet to unlock, the masses are not coming out to see “Mickey 17.” And that’s a shame. It’s a boatload of fun, features a heck of a performance by Robert Pattinson, and boasts some terrific visual effects. Is it on the same level as “Parasite?” No, nor should it be judged on that playing field. It’s pure escapism, and who couldn’t use a couple of hours of escape these days?
James Kent is the publisher’s assistant and arts editor at The Mountain Times.
