Mickey 17 – Review

Cert – 15, Run-time – 2 hours 17 minutes, Director – Bong Joon-ho

Needing to get off of Earth, Mickey (Robert Pattinson) becomes an expendable on a colonisation mission, when he dies a new version is printed off. However, when one version of him is presumed dead a case of multiples causes problems on the ship.

Whilst a big budget film with the backing of a major American studio, Bong Joon-ho’s latest, his first since Parasite took home four Oscars, feels just as much at home with the rest of his genre-meshing filmography. Stylistically his direction and treatment of his characters and the situations they find themselves in feels familiar to his previous works, although this time launching them into space.

In the case of Mickey (Robert Pattinson) he finds himself launched into space in a number of different ways after fleeing Earth to escape a gangster he owes a debt to. Signing up to the last mission to leave for the season he becomes an expendable, his memories are regularly saved and installed in a newly-printed version of him whenever the previous version dies. However, returning to the ship after surviving a fall which leaves him presumed dead he crashes into bed to discover an 18th version of him already lying there. With multiples being forbidden either one has to be killed or their existence has to be kept a secret, otherwise both could be killed and Mickey deleted as a whole.

Pattinson puts in a good job with his dual cartoon-inspired performances, he’s stated that the voices were slightly inspired by Ren and Stimpy with the physical side stemming from Jim Carrey in Dumb And Dumber. He helps to bring out the more comic beats which lie in a handful of scenes leaning into the frantic and hungry nature of least Mickey 17, with 18 being much more confident and angered by Mark Ruffalo’s egotistical colony leader Kenneth Marshall, launching the mission to another planet to create the perfect civilisation after losing two congressional elections on Earth. After receiving an Oscar nomination for his gloriously hammy performance in Poor Things, Ruffalo once again ramps up the theatrics with a character that – while writer-director Bong has claimed isn’t inspired by the President – you can’t help but think is inspired by Donald Trump in both the phrases he uses and some of his attitudes and gestures.

It takes a bit of time for the two figures to properly come together, and for the case of multiples to be unveiled to the rest of the ship. A good deal of the first half feels like a good deal of build-up for the world and narrative. As if it’s going to branch out further eventually and broaden the story instead of keeping itself as a generally contained narrative, set within the confines of the ship and the nearby reaches of the ice planet – populated with woodlouse-mammoth hybrid creatures with simple yet creepy details.

Due to the feeling that the film is going to branch out a bit more a good deal of it continues to feel like build-up. What’s there is entertaining, with a couple of chuckles here and there and some likable observations in regards to Mickey’s views on life and mortality, but there are a handful of instances where scenes feel slightly overlong, as does the film as a whole, despite picking up and rattling along well in the third act. While Bong has stated that he had final cut of the film there are certain moments where you can feel a slight hint of the studio providing notes, or at least having a hand of some sort in the project and how it goes about some of its themes, which because of this feeling don’t always fully come through or have the chance to flourish amongst the sci-fi caper that’s unfolding at the fore.

For the most part, though, there’s an engaging and likable time to be found within Mickey 17. As it grows its narrative without quite stretching itself in the way it might build itself up to do so Pattinson’s performances create effective leads as the two Mickey personalities clash and begin to create chaos throughout the central ship, and for those in charge. When these elements come together the film is at its best and most consistent in the way that things move along. There may be some slower moments in the build-up but once through them and things have come together there’s a solid sci-fi dramedy here.

You can feel Mickey 17 wanting to be more existential, and wish it were, however while the gradual build-up might have its slow moments, once things come together and Robert Pattinson’s lead performances are allowed to clash and run rampant there’s a consistently flowing and enjoyable time to be had.