After taking home four Academy Awards for “Parasite” in 2020, director Bong Joon Ho made his return to directing with a cinematic adaptation of the novel “Mickey7” by Edward Ashton. The film, titled “Mickey 17,” was released in theatres on March 7.
The film follows Mickey (Robert Pattinson), an expendable employee on a space exploration who dies repeatedly to gather information about the ice planet Niflheim. His mission takes a turn when a new clone is printed before the old Mickey is dead. The dark comedy acts as a social commentary highlighting worker rights and capitalism.
The film survived four release date delays to finally make it to theaters. Ho pointed to Hollywood strikes and the editing process of his final cut as to why the movie was pushed back.
“A lot of it had to do with the U.S. film industry including the writers’ and actors’ strikes,” Ho said at the Berlin International Film Festival.” The film was first contracted on the condition of me having final cut, and the studio let me have creative control.”
Pattinson was easily the highlight of the film, he effortlessly flips back and forth between two different versions of Mickey to deliver two hilariously bizarre performances. Pattinson showed off his impressive acting range by playing a sincere and less confident Mickey, while also portraying a brooding and intense Mickey simultaneously.
Other standouts included Naomi Ackie (Nasha Barridge), Toni Collette (Ylfa Marshall) and Mark Ruffalo (Kenneth Marshall). Ackie delivers a fiery and passionate performance as Mickey’s love interest and protector throughout the film. Playing the film’s main antagonists, Ruffalo and Collette are hysterical as wacky politicians with a cult-like following and humorously shallow.
Compared to “Parasite,” the director decided to take a much less subtle approach to his social commentary in “Mickey 17.” Ruffalo’s character appears to be an analogy for Donald Trump, with his supporters even sporting red caps in the film. The film does not aim to say anything profound about society but instead focuses on making light of the current state of global affairs.
Although the film possessed memorable moments, other features left a lot to be desired. For a film with a considerable budget and major studio backing, the set design and visual effects were underwhelming. The cast seemed to be bloated as well; characters like Timo (Steven Yeun) and Kai Katz (Anamaria Vartolomei) get lost in the shuffle and their subplots are simply not engaging.
Regardless of these weaknesses, “Mickey 17” still serves as a worthy adaptation of the novel and does not look out of place in Ho’s Oscar-winning filmography.
“Mickey 17” is now playing in theaters.
