Mickey 17

Two things interested me about Mickey 17 upon release: the concept sounded bonkers, and it was directed by Bong Joon Ho, who directed the magnificent Parasite. What I didn't realize until looking at his filmography before writing this was that he directed two other movies I enjoyed: Snowpiercer and The Host. While those weren't Parasite-level amazing, they were still good watches. That's the sign of a damned good director; they keep making projects that catch your attention even when you don't remember the name. Mickey 17's concept is simple on the surface: a young man trying to escape loan sharks signs up for an experimental space exploration where is an "expendable". Thanks to the ability to digitally preserve memories and print human bodies from bio-waste, he is tasked with doing dangerous, even deadly jobs, and if he dies, he gets reprinted into a new body with all his memories intact. That premise by itself opens up a world of possibilities and themes to explore, and without giving away the ballgame, Mickey 17 explores quite a lot of them and then some: what defines a human being, ownership of self versus loyalty to an entity, and the value of human life. Robert Pattinson plays the titular Mickey, and I will forever be impressed with how he (and his former co-star Kristin Stewart) have elevated themselves beyond their oft-ridiculed beginnings in Twilight. Pattinson is fantastic, getting to show multiple sides of the same character thanks to the reprinting gimmick. And he isn't then only one here having some fun. Mark Ruffalo is a blast as the ship's steward/captain, a homunculus of Trump and 80's televangelists. And the rest of the supporting cast are all living it up, especially Naomi Ackie, who gets a to go off the rails with Nasha, Mickey's girlfriend and a member of the security/military/firefighters brigade. A Bong Joon Ho movie isn't complete without touching on political and social issues, and Mickey 17 is no different. In addition to what I mentioned before, the movie eventually explores environmental concerns, colonialism, manifest destiny, and corporations versus the individual. Mickey 17 is a loaded movie, perhaps to its own detriment; it wants to say something about so many things, it scarcely has the energy to keep all its balls in the air. Themes, plotlines, and characters get picked up and dropped like a toddler surrounded by toys, even with a run time close to 2:20. Fortunately, Mickey 17 never lags, either hitting you with comedy or action or compelling character work, but somewhere in here is a 100-110 minute movie that is a little more focused and picks one or two lanes instead of trying to tackle every issue facing humanity today. It's almost funny that Mickey 17's biggest sin is being too ambitious, because it feels like the movie almost succeeds in handling everything. It comes achingly close. Considering all the other boxes this movie checks, though, trying to boil too many pots on the same stove isn't that big of a crime, especially when it succeeds in most of them. I had faith Bong Joon Ho would turn in another movie worth my time, and he more than exceeded the mandate. He has absolutely earned the right to be counted among those directors whose name and involvement sells a movie.