March 10th, 2025

It’s easy to forget the kind of director that Bong Joon Ho was prior to his historic Oscar sweep in 2020. ‘Parasite‘ is a film like no other, recognized by so many at this point I don’t want to belabor the notion. But before that Director Bong’s stylish films had similar messaging, but the feeling of standard (albeit incredibly well made) genre popcorn fare. 2006’s ‘The Host‘ is ostensibly ‘Jaws’ with more focus on the environmental impacts that caused the problem. ‘Snowpiercer‘ puts Captain America’s Chris Evans at the head of it in the middle of his MCU run. Even ‘Okja‘ which probably feels the most like an arthouse film has a chase sequence early on that Tom Cruise has to be envious of. And ‘Parasite‘ itself is genre enough to look and feel like a horror revenge thriller for most of its runtime.

So it should come to no surprise that ‘Mickey 17‘ is not the art house pitch that many were expecting. Director Bong has never been an art house guy, his movies are loud, bombastic, and even while they draw attention to class divides and social issues, they are crowd pleasers. ‘Mickey 17‘ is no different, as we are introduced to Robert Pattinson’s character Mickey Barnes dying (again) on a frosty planet. The company uses him as companies use everyone, as a tool to gain whatever resources or information they require. After all, once he dies he’s just reprinted. Who cares how much pain he goes through in pursuit of corporate profits? Even his fellow crewmates seem to barely consider him a person, treating him with a mixture of jealousy and bigotry.

Things go awry when Mickey 17 manages to live, coming back to find the 18th version of himself already going about his day. This is when the movie really shines, Robert Pattinson plays the two Mickeys as totally different personalities, to the point where you can tell them apart because of their facial expressions alone. 17 is a little whiny, weak, unsure of himself, whereas 18 is aggressive, angry, and intensely confident. There are lots of strong performances in ‘Mickey 17’ but Robert Pattinson really shows off his acting skills playing the two multiples.

Having two copies is, after all, illegal. So the two Mickeys must avoid being seen together, particularly by the leader of the ship’s expedition Senator Kenneth Marshall (Mark Ruffalo), a character that’s so Trump coded it’s a little heavy handed at times. Marshall is trying to build a pure human planet, one where his church company, or company church? The two words are so intertwined it’s hard to say if the Evangelicalism lead to the Capitalism or vice versa. He’s hoping his holy corporation can rule with an iron fist. Unfortunately the planet is already populated with tardigrade-like aliens that Senator Marshall finds repulsive. He plans to eradicate the native inhabitants of the planet and build his Aryan paradise.

The messages of ‘Mickey 17‘ are ones we’re familiar from Director Bong, capitalism inevitably leads to catastrophe for all but the most powerful, the dirge of Evangelicalism will lead to society’s downfall, the environment must be respected if humanity is to survive. I do think these messages are probably less subtle than they ever have been from Director Bong, and that’s saying something as I wouldn’t call ‘Snowpiercer‘ or ‘The Host’ inscrutable in their messaging to say the least. The best parts of ‘Mickey 17‘ are the humor, particularly that of Robert Pattinson and Steven Yeun, who plays Mickeys backstabbing compatriot. If they had leaned further into the farcical nature of the story I think this movie would’ve worked even better for me. I’ve sen some compare it to Chaplin’s ‘Modern Times‘ and I can see it, if only just a little. Technology being the thing that sets the story in motion, and at the same time is the hope of many in our world to solve all our problems. Even if it is causing more problems than it’s solving.

But even as it stands a story about technology not being the skeleton key to humanity’s future, but instead kindness and communication in the face of fascist regimes is the heartwarmer I think we need today. The film looks amazing, a perfect blend of practical sets and CGI beasts that shines in comparison with the MCU slop we’re accustomed to seeing. I’ve not seen the film, but I can’t imagine President Red Hulk looks half as good as our tardigrade friends do here. In a world where wild theatrical swings are seen less and less ‘Mickey 17‘ is the kind of picture we need to champion if we want cinema to survive in any fashion, and I’m happy to do so.

4/5