By Shane Mead | Staff Writer
South Korean Director Bong Joon Ho had us in a chokehold with Parasite (2019), which earned a 99% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and boasts a 4.5 rating on Letterboxd. His critiques on capitalism as well as the social and economic class system were applauded — strong enough to earn four Academy Awards as well as numerous others from various film organizations.
It’s been six years since Bong’s last film — plenty of time to build up anticipation for what the great director can cook up next.
Alas, Mickey 17 is here, starring Robert Pattinson and… Robert Pattinson?
I’ll explain more. But like Bong’s previous films, the social commentary is loud, while still presenting plenty of humor and an entertaining narrative despite some minor plot convenience.
That said, this most definitely doesn’t live up to the hype that may have built up following Parasite, and that’s probably what most Americans are walking into theaters expecting: another edge-of-your-seat thriller starring characters of some legendary series (Robert Pattinson, “Twilight”; Mark Ruffalo, “Marvel”; Steven Yeun, “The Walking Dead”).
If Parasite is the bar, this film hardly gets off the ground. So please, lower your expectations just a little. All-time classics hold that title for a reason, and it shouldn’t be expected for directors to continuously pump them out.
This is a solid film and well-worth the watch. Though mostly positive, I fear many of the negative reviews come from those who expected another classic and left the theaters in disappointment.
*Beware! Spoilers ahead.*
Mickey is a man who lives in a futuristic society and is crippled with debt. It’s so bad, he resorts to fleeing the globe to escape it. Unfortunately, that means taking a grueling job on a one-way voyage to a planet far, far away called Niflheim.
The job? Expendable labor.
Mickey’s sole purpose is to die—over and over again. Each time he dies, a futuristic cloning printer churns out a new version of him, identical in DNA and memories.
What a gig, huh? Mickey has to endure hard labor until he dies, and then get printed out to do it all over again. One of his grueling tasks was to continuously walk around Niflheim, breathing in its toxic air until scientists were able to create a working vaccine. He had to do it a handful of times.
So you’re probably starting to understand why I said this film stars Robert Pattinson and Robert Pattinson. One voyage, the seventeenth version of Mickey (Mickey 17) never makes it back to ship. Thus, Mickey 18 is printed and Mickey 17 returns shortly after to find his replacement living in his room.
This eighteenth version, however, is an aggressive jerk with a huge edge to him, acting as quite the opposite to Mickey 17 and probably more fitting for Pattinson given his past roles in films like The Batman (2022). The two are nonetheless forced to coexist as the law states any clones must be executed.
All the while, the head of operations, Kenneth Marshall (played by Mark Ruffalo), is a massive tyrant. His odd phrases, lip movements and nerdy intelligence are very reminiscent of our president and his senior advisor.
Both Kenneth and his wife, Ylfa (played by Toni Collette), are quite the quirky pair. They’re one of those “she finishes his sentences but I’m not sure that’s what he was going to say” type of couples. One thing they both share, however, is their motive is to colonize Niflheim, killing all of its inhabitants.
These creatures, known as “Creepers,” roam the planet, and start going crazy when a baby creeper is captured and taken into the massive spaceship to be tested. They weren’t hurting anybody, but thanks to a creeper translator a scientist had conveniently been working on, Mickey 17 was able to relay the message that the creepers would get violent if the baby wasn’t returned.
This began total chaos, with Kenneth and Ylfa Marshall making poor decision after poor decision, highlighting Bong’s clear distaste for authority figures who head societies that treat the other, as well as their own lower class as less than human.
Not only that, it’s evident Bong is fearsome of the implications of future technology. Of all the possibilities that come with cloning, it’s immediately used for expendable labor. If we’re being honest, that basically follows suit with how humans have exploited each other in the labor industry for hundreds of years.
Relevant concerns are attacked by Bong’s strong use of satire. That, combined with the eerily beautiful cinematography work and quick, chaotic narrative had me happily entertained as I snacked on my Buncha Crunch and sipped on my overpriced lemonade.
