Bong Joon-Ho's MICKEY 17

 

Among the pleasures of any good Bong Joon-Ho film - and he has not, for my estimation for what its worth, had one less than good yet (often they're pretty awesome) - is the level of detail he puts into every shot, whether it's for his actors to chew into playing or just in the schema of the script.

Take the example of the, well, sexual positions designed in loving semi-humor by the characters of Mickey (Pattinson) and Nasha (Ackie), two people who somehow lock eyes with one another and won't let one another go (even with the knowledge that Nasha has that Mickey is an Expendable and goes through many permutations over the years he's on the ship to this wherever-it-is new "promised land" by the fascist zealot Marshall (Mark Ruffalo, who said to himself he didnt play nearly enough of a scumbag in Poor Things).

It is one of those funny and kind of adorable moments that we dont usually get in movies anyway, but here it adds a flavor to their romance and relationship that is distinctive. But leave it to Bong to make it a crucial story point during the climax where Mickey 17 and 18 are in the midst of real life and death/end of everything danger from the human villains and the very pissed-off creatures who are the native residents of this planet (and have certain demands, long story), and the actual name of one of the sexual positions has to come into play at just this moment. That is one example, but there are other things like how much the attitudes and memories of the two "multiple" Mickeys comes into conflict and how they each have their own sort of arcs.

Or how about that one shot that goes a while, and the tensions builds between Kai (Vartolomei) who lost someone and wont be seeing her friend again and Mickey, and how he is and isnt reading her signs. I could point to a lot of little things both greater and seemingly smaller that add up and build in this film, and I've always loved that in Bong's work whether it is in Snowpiercer or Memories of Murder or (duh) Parasite; he understands that there are those pleasures with story beats and just how bizarre he can take things before bringing it back down again.

 The dinner scene with Ruffalo, Collette, Pattinson and everyone is one set piece that features raptures singing and vomiting and a near murder and then a backtrack just from the edge - you really don't know where things could go, and that is another thrill but also the trust one puts into Bong that he'll take things into remarkable and prescient places.

Is the satire obvious? Where are you on planet Earth? There's always going to be the "expendable" dopes and the ones who want to fight back in some form or another (like Mickey 18, who strikes me as having a bit of the Luigi in 2024/25 speak) and the freaks who attain power and get a lot of respect just because they're in a suit and taking people to another planet to employ uh White Eugenics and so on. 

I think it may be easy to say simply This is Trump because Bong and his collaborators may be looking to anyone who is in power and has a built up a cult of some kind or other (it feels more of a piece with Okja than even Snowpiercer, but thats not a bad thing at all). For me, Mickey 17 hits so well and is so funny - ie the sauces from Collette - because it's balanced by real heart and pathos with Mickey(s) and Nasha and, hey, those "Creepers" are quite... cute.

I've gone all this way without mentioning Pattinson; what I would want to tell someone who might come to the film without much of an affinity for the director's work (maybe at most you saw Parasite or even lacking that or Okja), Pattinson is the reason you should give this a shot. He has both Mickeys to play and it does remind me greatly of like Ren and Stimpy from the cartoon show (kind of surprised 18 doesn't call 17 an eeediot), and that means he has the range to dig into many variations.

 He's dim, angry, charming, sardonic, sad, perplexed, and sometimes quicker on his feet the longer it goes on. He and Ackie (and briefly with Vartolomei) have such good chemistry too that they each feed off and add to what develops so that once it gets to that climax with the countless Creepers and Ruffalo growing all the crazier, it comes together quite nicely.

There are some parts that are open to scrutiny, like Steven Yeun (who is a lot of fun) and a sort of sub-plot involving a loan shark who may cross the galaxy to find him and use a chainsaw, and I do wonder if a near final scene that is meant to be a dream might have originally been made to be in reality before the presumed re-shoots that Bong had to deal with at the studio (or one of a number of endings). 

But overall Mickey 17 is genuinely fun and clever and it even can call into some philosophical sense about what ones life means - and that often asked "what's it feel like to die" that becomes less meaningful and more of an annoyance for Mickeys fo hear - though you shouldn't think too deeply about the mechanics of who gets what consciousness or why there really aren't more of them (yeah yeah outlawed only in space sure but... I'm sure I'll think of another flaw or two).

Point is, Mickey 17 as a follow up to one of the masterpieces of the 21st century... this guy really just went for making another Bong Joon Ho movie, and that was the way to go.