Following up anything with as much success as 2019’s Parasite is a difficult endeavor. Filmmaker Bong Joon Ho won the coveted Palm d’Or at that year’s Cannes Film Festival before the film went on to win four Oscars later that year. Even if it hadn’t become such a seminal film in our culture, spurring studios to produce and promote films starring Asian performers, his next project, Mickey 17, would be hard to live up to its successor.
Instead of playing it safe, Bong takes an ambitious hit with his adaptation of Edward Ashton’s 2022 novel Mickey7. Taking place in the future, hot dummy Mickey Barnes (Robert Pattinson) needs to get off the planet as soon as possible to avoid a loan shark. He signs up to be an expendable on a spaceship bound to set up a colony on a frozen planet. Because he doesn’t read the fine print, he fails to realize what his new position entails: constantly dying doing dangerous tasks before his corpse is collected to be reprinted again.
Leading the ship is charismatic and religious criminal politician Kenneth Marshall (Mark Ruffalo in a hardworking set of fake teeth) and his equally creepy wife, Ylfa (Toni Collette). They do not care about the safety of their crew nor about the new planet that they will inhabit. For the most part Mickey steers clear of them and instead spends all of his free time with Nasha (Naomi Ackie), his girlfriend and a security officer onboard. Though dying is his job, he hates it and can never get used to the fear he feels each time his world goes dark. Nasha is the only person who treats him with respect and dignity.
We meet him right before his 17th iteration is about to die at the hands of their new planet’s native species, a pill-bug—cepholapod—manatee-looking alien. When he doesn’t, he returns to the ship to find that he has already been reprinted. As having multiple versions of yourself is prohibited, this new homicidal version of Mickey poses a problem for the meeker and more noble original.
While Bong’s tone and style have never been more fine-tuned, the film’s concept gets away from him. The story stalls on goofy villains and overzealous messaging. Mickey 17 focuses on themes similar to those that Bong touched on in his past films — like class warfare, colonialism, and veganism — and his latest work is no Parasite. If anything, it is most similar in tone and execution as Okja, the 2016 Netflix film about a girl who captures the world’s attention trying to save her genetically modified pet pig from slaughter. Like that film, if the story focused solely on its lead instead of extensive world building and side characters, it wouldn’t drag so much.
If anything, Mickey 17 shows off Robert Pattinson’s comedic talent. That man gives Buster Keaton a run for his money in this movie. Each death and reprinting is another opportunity for his body to contort and stretch in a new way. He’s fascinating to watch and brilliantly differentiates between each version of Mickey. Pattinson is not known for his comedic performances, yet he has played a slew of “weird little dudes” in films like The King, The Devil All The Time, and The Boy and the Heron. Mickey is the funniest character he’s played and not only does he nail the comedic timing, he still grounds the character in reality.
What one takes away from Mickey 17 will vary, but it is not a multiple of Parasite. It would be great if directors could create the same type of film over and over again with the same effect as the original, but what a boring world that would be.
Mickey 17 is in theaters this Friday. Watch the trailer below.
