Mickey 17

Following up a generational, awards-laden masterpiece cannot be an easy task.

Bong Joon Ho has dipped into many genres but takes a route back into sci-fi with his follow up to Parasite: Mickey 17.

A more light-hearted and inherently sillier film than the last, sure, but also one with timely elements and his usual fixation on ethical and humane issues.

It’s rather like putting two of his other previous bits of brilliance, Okja and Snowpiercer, in a blender with a light dab of something hallucinatory and a dose of almost improvisational quirk.

Robert Pattinson, becoming possibly THE actor of this generation, is Mickey. Mickey signs up to one of many space expeditions in the near future because of a debt owed to a gangster and becomes an ‘expendable’ (no, not one of Sylvester Stallone’s grunts).

He’s used to test vaccines, air conditions, weaponry and whether the inhabitants of this new world are hostile and, each time he dies, is ‘reprinted’ with memories intact.

This is until, inevitably, another version is printed when one is assumed to be dead and Mickey number 17 bumps into Mickey number 18.

A serious opportunity to indulge questions of morality, ethics, nature vs. nurture and the definition of humanity you would think and, whilst these ideas are touched on and ripe for discussion afterward, tonally this is far more slapstick and fun than that.

Far more in line, as mentioned, with Ojka than with Parasite in other words.

This is in part to be admired. Clearly given a huge budget and free rein, Bong goes against what made his last movie so successful and indulges in something hugely fun, bonkers and irreverent.

However, there perhaps could and maybe should have been slightly more ethical and even political inference and nuance here, especially with Mark Ruffalo’s pseudo-Trump like ‘leader’ of this new world.

Of course, there’s huge amounts to enjoy regardless of your thoughts on that. As you’d expect, it’s a beautifully made film with huge care and attention.

There are lots of lovely Star Wars references, some stunning cinematography and the first half of the film (leading up to what could be the latest ‘title card’ in film history) is impeccable science fiction.

Thereafter, the tone pivots to become that little bit more random and there are some tangents which indulge in the weird. At times, this is laugh out loud funny (Ruffalo and Pattinson’s comic chops are off the scale) but it might not suit all tastes.

It’s a hard film to review. It’s rip-roaring, hugely entertaining, brilliantly made cinematic fun and yet another reason to laud Bong Joon Ho’s boundless vision and directing ability but also, deliberately, isn’t quite as prescient or as Earth-shaking as some of his previous films.

It’ll likely go down as the ‘fun one’ in his catalogue and it’s up there with some of the best sci-fi of recent times. Be prepared for weird.

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