Mickey 17 Review
Director Bong Joon-ho has released his latest film ‘Mickey 17’ into cinemas, adapting the book ‘Mickey7’ by Edward Ashton. Starring Robert Pattinson as both the titular Mickey 17 and a rogue Mickey 18, as they try to make their life in the role of an Expendable, navigating the harsh life imposed on them by Mark Ruffalo’s Kenneth Marshall during the colonization of the planet Niflheim. It’s a film that blends a lot of elements together from dark comedy, action, political satire with a budding romance, anchored by Joon-ho’s singular vision and Pattinson’s stellar acting.
Starting with Pattinson, he manages to imbue his Mickey’s with such differing personalities and mannerisms, making it easy to tell which Mickey is which. Mickey 17’s accent differs from 18’s to add a further layer, preventing audiences from losing track of which Mickey is which. It’s a phenomenal performance, as Pattinson draws out Mickey 17’s wimpy nature and the hatred for the rules out of Mickey 18. Pattinson isn’t the only actor that delivers in this role, he’s surrounded by memorable performances from Naomi Ackie as Mickey’s love interest Nasha Berridge, the Donald Trump-esque Kenneth Marshal from Mark Ruffalo (though he leans a bit too much into this satire), and his sinister wife Ylfa played by Toni Collette.
‘Mickey 17’ follows a colonization ship as it makes the four-year trip from Earth to the planet Niflheim and the subsequent colonization efforts. Within that, there are plenty of different threads, like the different Mickeys and how they died, Marshall’s populist and troubling rule, Mickey’s love life, and the drug problems that Steven Yeun’s Timo faces and how that impacts Mickey. Laying it all out like this, it does seem rather complex. However, thanks to Joon-ho’s singular vision, he’s able to weave all these desperate elements into a compelling story, and one that contains several themes that warn humanity of the dangers of following a similar path.
This leads quite nicely onto the tone and themes the film focuses on. ‘Mickey 17’ is set in a dystopian world as mentioned before, as people are taken on voyages to claim another planet according to the whims of a failed politician. That politician almost starts a war with the intelligent creatures native to that planet. Technology has progressed to a dystopian level, with a printer that can use biomass to create humans. Memories and personalities are uploaded to this copy. This essentially creates a version of immortality, which is said to have various philosophical and moral consequences, and it’s definitely shown in the film, and the very dangers of this technology are shown, as it creates a class of person who’s safety can be completely disregarded in the name of science, because they can always just be reprinted.
This sounds like a nightmarish horror world, there are several moments with levity, as the film indulges in dark and sometimes gory humour. This helps keep the audience upbeat, while keeping the warning of what could happen intact. There are parts that do get more serious and explore the dangers of this whole situation, even one bit at the end that verges on horror. Self-identity is something that is touched on, but only briefly. There are some action beats to the film, but overall, they’re not something that will leap out at an audience, though the final one does a good job of ratcheting up the tension.
‘Mickey 17’ is a film that matches brilliant directing with brilliant acting. Pattinson displays a performance that is multi-dimensional and layed. Joon-ho here operates with his singular vision to deliver a film that has the potential to get tangled up in the many elements it weaves together but instead is coherent. While parts like the action are serviceable and some themes underexplored, ‘Mickey 17’ is very much worth the time for anyone interested in science fiction.
