Bong Joon-ho’s next film after his award-winning “Parasite” is the ultimate blank-check movie. With “Mickey 17,” he is able to make a sci-fi movie on a level that we don’t see often anymore. The film is also a drastic change in pace from Joon-ho’s last film and it will definitely catch some people off guard if they aren’t familiar with his work.
“Mickey 17” is based on the book “Mickey 7.” It follows a man who leaves Earth and goes to a different planet as an expendable. Robert Pattinson plays all the different versions of Mickey Barnes, and he is great in this film. Pattinson’s choice of roles after the “Twilight” films showcase the incredible range of talent that he has as an actor. He does it all in this film, from being very funny to super serious to everything in between. This movie proves why he is one of our generation’s best actors.
However, the film itself doesn’t really hold up to Pattinson’s performance. It is about as blunt as a brick to the face in terms of its themes, which isn’t bad, but after a while, it starts to wear thin. This is especially true with Toni Collette’s performance, which is essentially repeating the same joke over and over to make the point of the film. Mark Ruffalo as a Trump-esque stand-in is very funny, though. Even if he has some of the same problems as just telling jokes over and over, I thought that critique of fascism in the film was very strong and is very meaningful today.
All the performances in the movie are very good, but I don’t think it would have worked without Naomi Ackie’s chemistry with Pattinson. Both of them play off of each other so well and the romantic chemistry they have is excellent. Steven Yeun is great in this as well. His performance worked for me, and he was funny the entire time he was on screen.
The aspect that didn’t really work the best for me is the stuff with the alien animals. The anti-capitalist theme works, but the aliens themselves are used as a joke and it felt like the movie was overstuffed with different ideas by the time this happens in the third act. That is honestly the film’s biggest problem: when all these themes come to a head in the third act, the film feels very bloated and messy, and it starts to fall apart.
While the film has a lot of good ideas, they don’t all come to a satisfying conclusion by the pretty messy third act. Luckily the cast, especially Pattinson and Ackie, make “Mickey 17” a very fun watch, even if it does have problems.
Rating: 7/10
