MICKEY 17 Reviewed by GREG KING
Director: Bong Joon-Ho
Stars: Robert Pattinson, Mark Ruffalo, Toni Collette, Steven Yeun, Naomi Ackie, Anamaria Vartolomei, Daniel Henshall, Thomas Turgoose, Cameron Britton, Patsy Ferran, Steve Park, Holliday Grainger.
Korean filmmaker Bong Joon-Ho’s first feature since his 2020 Oscar winning Parasite is this blackly comic sci-fi film adapted from the 2022 novel by Edward Ashton. He has taken some liberties with the source material.
The film explores themes of cloning, science, colonisation, space exploration, religious fanaticism, power, identity, memory, capitalism and greed. Set in the not-too-distant future of 2054 Mickey 17 is full of interesting ideas, but not all of them are fully developed.
The earth is overcrowded, polluted and dying. A mission is sent into space to colonise and inhabit the ice planet of Nilfheim. The mission is commanded by Kenneth Marshall (Mark Ruffalo), an egomaniacal failed politician and zealous preacher, and his devious and controlling wife Yifa (Toni Collette).
Down on his luck Mickey Barnes (Robert Pattinson, from the Twilight series, etc) and his feckless best friend Timo (Steven Yeun, from The Walking Dead, etc) are on the run from a vicious money lender so they both sign up for the four-year mission to escape his clutches.
The mission requires “expendables”, human guinea pigs who will perform the most dangerous tasks, such as first breathing the air on the new planet to ensure it is safe, working with the nuclear reactors and running exploratory missions into the wilds of the planet. Mickey signs up as such an expendable. Every time he dies his body is reprinted via 3D printing technology and all his memories digitally implanted as depicted in an amusing montage. This is a practice that has been banned on Earth, but is permitted in outer space under certain conditions.
But after a mix-up Mickey is presumed dead after falling into a cave where he is attacked by armadillo-like creatures. However, Mickey survives the encounter and makes his way back to the home base. There he encounters the newly minted #18 version of himself. Under intergalactic law though two such expendables are not permitted. This means a potential death sentence for both of them. The more aggressive Mickey 18 tries to kill Mickey 17.
The pair though are reluctantly forced to work together with sympathetic security guard Nasha Barridge (Naomi Ackie, from the Whitney Houston biopic I Wanna Dance With Somebody, etc) to thwart Marshall’s plan to reshape Nilfheim according to his own warped imperial vision through eradicating the armadillo-like creatures that they have called “creepers.”
This is a visually impressive production and the film’s reputed $200 million budget can be seen on the screen. State-of-the-art special effects and CGI create this brave new world, and they also allow Pattinson to seamlessly interact with his cloned self.
Pattinson has been choosing some interesting and challenging roles, and here he plays a dual role. He brings a goofy charm to the role and lends subtle nuances to each iteration of Mickey with a physical transformation that gives them a distinct personality. Ruffalo has fun with his exaggerated scenery-chewing performance as Marshall, and his broadly comic take on the character becomes more of a caricature. The Trump-like allegory is both obvious and a little heavy handed, although some of the pointed political satire is relevant to contemporary events. Ackie has a strong presence as Nasha, a security guard who is sympathetic towards both incarnations of Mickey.
Joon-Ho takes a scattergun approach to the material which he directs with plenty of energy and flair, emphasising the black humour where possible. The visual effects that create the creatures are also good. Fiona Crombie’s production design is very good as it creates the interiors of the mission’s base HQ and the laboratories. Cinematographer Darius Khondji gives the film a crisp surface look as he captures the snow-covered wilderness of the planet.
There is also a touch of Edge Of Tomorrow about the central premise of a clone dying over and over and repeating many of the same experiences every day. Nonetheless Mickey 17 is an interesting film, and a fine addition to Joon-Ho’s oeuvre that includes the dystopian Snowpiercer, the monster horror of The Host, and the social/political satire and social commentary of Parasite, all of which are at play here. But the film is a little bloated as it runs for 137 minutes with plenty of intertwined subplots. Some scenes could have done with trimming in the editing suite.
★★★
