Director Bong Joon-ho entered the 2020s riding the crest of a wave. The South Korean’s 2019 movie “Parasite” had conquered the theoretical enclave known as Hollywood, and he walked away with four Academy Awards out of 6 Oscar nominations.
“Parasite” won for best picture, director, original screenplay, and International Film. The other nominations were for editing and production design. Bong could write his own ticket, but as we know, translating that kind of success in the turbulent motion picture business whenever essential studios are involved is difficult. The director was the darling of independent cinema, but he signed on with a major player with money and power. And egos in the board room.
“Parasite” is a dark comedy about a poor family taking over the lives and property of a wealthy family. I also like Bong’s “Snowpiercer” from 2013 and “Okja” from 2017. The former is a rip-roaring thriller about climate change and a train filled with the haves and have-nots. “Okja” is a science-fiction adventure about a young girl trying to rescue her genetically modified pet pig from the meat industry.
You’ve got to hand it to Bong, he doesn’t shirk from tackling unusual, even risky themes about the divisions between society’s Earthbound classes. Therefore, it apparently made sense to people who matter that Bong would head into outer space.
In “Mickey 17,” it’s 2054 and a fellow named Mickey Barnes (Robert Pattinson) and his best friend Timo (Steven Yeun) are flat broke. They can barely keep their heads above financial water after the failure of a business venture. A loan shark with murder on his mind is after them. So, what can a couple of poor boys do?
Well, they can sign up to be crewmen on a spaceship that is heading into the sky to colonize the unwelcoming, icy planet Niflheim. We’re again in a motion picture world in which corporations control space travel and anyone in good health and the ability to be trained can literally soar into the atmosphere.
Timo is going to be a shuttle pilot and Mickey is going to be the only “Expendable” on the flight. Technology that is banned on Earth will be used to clone Mickey as needed. He will be considered disposable, hence the numeral 17 after his name and in the film’s title.
All of the dangerous assignments on Niflheim will be given to Mickey, and you will eventually learn about some of his other past adventures. If he dies, his memory is always restored, and he is, for all practical purposes, “reprinted.” During the extended voyage, a romance develops between Mickey and a security agent named Nasha Barridge (Naomi Ackie).
The movie is adapted from Edward Ashton’s 2022 science-fiction novel “Mickey7.” The premise about cloning an individual to carry out the needed dirty work on another planet is interesting. Mickey, Timo, and a group of very eager citizens are excited to be going to the supposedly more promising planet of Niflheim. The entire enterprise is the brainchild of a corrupt politician named Kenneth Marshall (Mark Ruffalo), who has connections to wealthy businessmen and an unrelenting grip on his followers. The phrase “messianic complex” comes to mind.
Mickey is more than willing to undertake dangerous missions and to serve as a readily available subject for whatever deadly experiments are considered necessary. He is expected to die and is ready to die because dying doesn’t matter. Once dead, his body is regenerated through the use of a special 3-D printer, and his thoughts, character traits, and both pleasant and unpleasant memories are thrust back into his brain.
The focus of the story’s first half is that Mickey knows what it feels like to die, which is a question he gets asked a lot. He’s a goofy sort of fellow, and he doesn’t really mind the attention. There are promising storylines early on, including Timo’s friendship, as well as the love interest between Mickey and Nasha. There is also the fact that the planet isn’t as uninhabited as people think. Grotesque creatures – a mix between armadillo and bison with tentacles for a mouth – are afoot.
Additionally, Mickey in his 17th version is believed to be dead. Without a body, you can’t remake him. Thus a Mickey 18 is generated, but #17 isn’t gone for good, and conflict arises.
Regarding Marshall, he lays down the law about the passengers having sex because it wastes calories. The dictate is received with smiles because his adoring followers will agree with anything he says. Marshall’s wife Ylfa (Toni Collette) has her own schemes. Bong’s screenplay also emphasizes that Mickey and Nasha deeply love each other.
With this kind of framework, it’s unfortunate that the central problem with “Mickey 17” is that it doesn’t build on its clever foundation. The second half wobbles too much. Think about it, you’ve got a pleasant fellow who is photocopied at the drop of an errant wrench, creatures capable of running amok, an egocentric power couple with enough money to carry out their wildest dreams, worrisome pathogens, controversial vaccines, and planetary rocks vital to, well, vital to some secrets that I won’t reveal.
Why then does the 137-minute movie feel mostly like torpid homework? With all of its interesting ideas, everything still feels fragmented and figuratively scattered into the wind. For starters, even with its epic scope and vision, “Mickey 17” seems small. The sets are nothing you haven’t seen before.
It’s been six years since Bong was the center of cinematic attention, which is a long stretch for so creative an individual. Filming on “Mickey 17” started in August 2022 and the movie was completed in January 2023; therefore, what’s been happening behind the scenes that caused the long two-year interval until its current release in theaters? Was it concern about the lack of cohesion? Or real-life social and political headlines? Possible studio interference?
I will celebrate “Mickey 17” for its wonderful acting all-around and the ambition of its ideas. Other than that, it’s a long flight to an unfortunate font of familiarity.