Review: 'Mickey 17' flies high on Bong Joon-ho's no-limits imagination
It's been six years since South Korean cinema master Bong Joon-ho released "Parasite" and won Oscars for best picture, director and screenplay. Now, he's back in theaters with his latest, "Mickey 17," working in English with up-for-anything actor Robert Pattinson and determined to make us see the world in fresh ways while swiping at greed and class discrimination.
Repeating his historic success with "Parasite" is off the table. It's not happening. But that doesn't mean Bong has lost his knack for shakings things up. In this goofball, sci-fi space opera tinged with biting social satire, Pattinson plays Mickey Barnes, a lowly space traveler built to be used, abused, murdered and regularly re-animated through human printing technology.
Pattinson's broad American accent alone is worth at least 17 hoots. "I really hate dying," says Mickey, and for good reason, since we watch him endure multiple deaths (I winced at the sight of radiation burning off his skin) -- and that's not even the worst of Mickey's torments.
How did Mickey end up in such a horrific pickle? Well, back on Earth, with a loan shark threatening to end him, Mickey signed up for a program in which the highest bidder could use him as a human expendable. Better than expiring for keeps, Mickey thought.
It doesn't take him long to think again. After volunteering to be shot into deep space, Mickey finds himself on the ice planet of Nilfheim in the godless year of 2054, when the one-percenters are still in charge, with malicious mischief on their minds. There are also armies of alien "creepers" outside ready to gobble up intruders. That's you, Mickey.
The leader of the human pack of space invaders is Kenneth Marshall, a futuristic MAGA candidate in a red hat who's hilariously hammed by Mark Ruffalo. The acting legend that is Toni Collette matches Ruffalo for flame-throwing flamboyance as the dictator's wife Ylfa.
Mickey is not without allies. As the passionate Nasha, Naomie Ackie seems to love Mickey for real. His so-called BFF Timo, played by the great Steven Yeun, is way harder to trust. And the tension, for which Bong is famous, escalates hard enough to leave you breathless.
Bong has covered this territory before in his other two movies in English. In 2014's epic "Snowpiercer," he crammed a microcosm of haves and have-nots onto a speeding train. And in 2017's "Okja," the adorable title character is a genetically engineered pig that's part of scheme to feed and control the masses.
The filmmaker has often been accused of being too much. And "Mickey 17," bloated with a big studio budget, suffers from excess. Bong's script is based on Edward Ashton's 2022 sci-fi novel "Mickey7," so he's already added 10 Mickeys to the game. There's also a do-badder Mickey 18 in play, but I will say no more, except to remind you that Bong is also a maximal talent.
The British Pattinson, miles from the American vampire dreamboat days of the "Twilight" franchise, has developed into an actor of stunning virtuosity (see him in a "Good Time," "The Lighthouse" and as the darkest-ever Caped Crusader in "The Batman"). My guess is you could triple the number of Mickeys and Pattinson would play the hell out of each one.
Flaws and all, "Mickey 17" flies high on Bong's no-limits imagination. So what if his Korean language films, from 2003's "Memories of Murder" to 2019's "Parasite," represent his best efforts. Despite a few clumsy lunges at profundity, "Mickey 17" is still Bong busting barriers to create a visionary thriller that's alive with talent and an artful sense of purpose.
