This crazy sci-fi satire paints a grim future where Earth is no longer habitable, and the four-year mission to the ice planet Niflheim depends on disposable human copies
Still from Mickey 17
Cast: Robert Pattinson, Naomi Ackie, Steven Yeun, Mark Ruffalo, Toni Collette, Holliday Grainger, Anamaria Vartolomei, Thomas Turgoose
Director: Bong Joon Ho
Rating: 2.5/5
Runtime: 137 min
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In Bong Joon Ho’s wildly improbable Sci-Fi Follow-Up to ‘Parasite’ we see Robert Pattinson as Mickey Barnes play a repeatedly reconstituted “expendable. This film is a dark comedy set in a nascent ice planet colony where Mickey Barnes finds himself in the extraordinary circumstance of dying, for a living. Adapted from the idea of Edward Ashton’s sci-fi novel “Mickey7” we have 18 Mickey’s to contend with here. This crazy sci-fi satire paints a grim future where Earth is no longer habitable, and the four-year mission to the ice planet Niflheim depends on disposable human copies.
This film is supposedly a comedy and the Korean director’s third English-language movie, has a dark look and presents blunt satire but it’s hard to find the laughs in such an outlandish setup. The endless supply of Pattinson clones don’t do it a favor either.
Mickey is desperate to escape a ruthless loan shark on Earth so he books passage on a missionary vessel to another planet, accidentally enrolling in the Expendables program without reading the fine print.
In effect, Mickey 1 agrees to have his body scanned and his memories archived, so he can be replicated and recycled every time an unlucky copy hits a snag.
To reiterate that, we are treated to a montage of assorted mishaps, where dead (or almost dead) Mickeys are dragged to the incinerator for regeneration. Pattinson explains that each new iteration is made from salvaged waste and spat out again through a giant machine as ordained by the fascist couple, played by Mark Ruffalo and Toni Collette.
The far-fetched premise spawns questions about the plausibility of such a proposition. Mickey is thrust into cruel death inducing situations like testing untried vaccines and sampling the air on an unknown planet, while his crew mates’ lives are considered too valuable to risk. Weird that Mickey is the only one pre-ordained to die ain’t it?
Apparently Expendables were outlawed on Earth, so they can only be used in space and the law demands that one single copy of a person can be in circulation at a given time. So there has to be a face-off because the Creeper who was meant to kill Mickey 17 does not, and Mickey 18, with a more aggressive personality gets created in the meantime.They both also have a craving for Nasha (Naomi Ackie), who loves the idea of having more than one Mickey to satisfy her. She has competition though, so she and her rival Kai (Anamaria Vartolomei) agree to share the doubles, and in the meanwhile Mickey 18 is plotting a coup.
The monochromatic look established by cinematographer Darius Khondji and production designer Fiona Crombie isn’t a great draw and Bong’s tone is also rather shrill and grating. Pattinson plays pathetic rather well and also seems to have a flair for comedy - at least the promise of it. Bong serves up a sci-fi spectacle with high-flown ideas and clownish antics to keep you entertained but it’s really not smooth sailing.
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