Mickey 17: A Galactic Disappointment
Unlikely hero Mickey Barnes finds himself in the extraordinary circumstance of working for an employer who demands the ultimate commitment to the job… to die, for a living. 1
How do you follow up a modern masterpiece? That’s a question some asked when they heard of Mickey 17, Bong Joon-ho’s latest work and his first after Parasite.
The answer is you can’t. No matter how much Robert Pattinson you’ve got.
Mickey 17 is a confused film. In one scene it’s about the mundane cruelty of corporations. In the next it’s about cults of personality and Trump. Then it takes on colonialism and the environment.
Exploring these ideas is no crime but the discordant way Bong chooses to show them muddies its greater theme.
Adding to this jumpy narrative are two uses of in medias res: one at the beginning and, inexplicably, one at the very end. Both cases create a stop-start feeling that saps emotion and momentum.
Mickey 17 could do with both. Pattinson does a great job portraying two distinct characters. I’m in awe of his ability to change his voice drastically yet naturally. It’s a shame his fellow cast put in subpar performances. Naomi Ackie is hammy, Toni Collette (as she always does) shows the seams of her work and Steven Yeun is wooden.
Mark Ruffalo turns out the strangest performance. Doing his best Doctor Evil impersonation, he mauls the scenery in an attempt to lampoon Donald Trump and similar far-right demagogues. It’s so bad it actually swings back round to being hilarious and therefore good? It’s impressive in a strange way.
Comedy is the film’s saving grace. Despite the ponderous satire and thin plot, it does a serviceable job of eliciting laughs. Tim Key has a handful of delightful scenes, dressed inexplicably as a pigeon.
But this is not enough to save Bong’s work. After a less than thorough exploration of its main conceit, Mickey 17 devolves into stock sci-fi action territory that relies on cutesy alien creatures to evoke empathy from the audience.
This is not a substitute for emotional resolution.
Watch it if you enjoyed Okja or Snowpiercer (somehow), but if you’re expecting an epic sci-fi black comedy in the vein of Starship Troopers or Dark Star you’ll be disappointed. It might be Bong Joon-ho’s worst yet.
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https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/696506-mickey-17↩