South Korean filmmaker extraordinaire Bong Joon-ho has successfully used science-fiction as a metaphoric backdrop in order to present deeply thematic and highly-relevant issues throughout his IMDb listings. His previous movie, the family drama Parasite, dealt with overpopulation, class war, and education. Parasite, lest you forget, won Bong the Oscar for Best Picture, Director, and Screenplay. His latest, Mickey 17, jumps back into the foray of scifi, and is laden with plenty of deep-rooted themes like isolation, socio-political bankruptcy, greed, and the philosophical implications of humanity itself. However, Bong does not over-complicate the movie. Mickey 17 is still a straight-forward scifi flick complete with cloning, corruption, frozen planets, and bad haircuts.

 

Adapted from the novel Mickey7 by Edward Ashton, Mickey 17 takes place a few decades in the future. Technology might have improved but the political landscape and younger generational ineptitude has not. Here, Robert Pattinson substitutes his high cheekbones and sculpted abs for Moe Howard locks and a nasally whine. Needing to escape Earth, he, along with troublemaking acquaintance Timo (portrayed to skeevy excellence by the brilliant Steven Yeun), sign on for a deep space colonization mission to the ice world Niflheim (readers of Thor from when Marvel’s editors would footnote the translation “Midgard = Earth” will recognize this as the Norse realm of the frost giants). Pattinson’s character, Mickey Barnes, accidentally signs on as an “expendable.” Instead of getting to hang out with Stallone and Statham, Mickey becomes a glorified lab rat where he is tested upon, killed, and reprinted as a clone. 

 

To catch up to the title of the movie, this happens sixteen times.

 

And then, eventually, a seventeenth, which brings along standard sitcom vibes coupled with a weird sexual anxiety. 

 

Mickey realizes he does not want to die. With each death, his will becomes stronger. Especially after he hooks up with the lovely Nasha (Naomi Ackie). Bong instills Mickey as a bastion of morality and sanity in a clearly opposite environment. When humanity reaches Niflheim and discovers an indigenous lifeform, not only are they immediately dubbed “creepers” but just as fast targeted for elimination. For this sub-plot, Bong fans will be reminded of his Netflix streamer, Okja, a story about empathy and animal rights. 

 

Bong continually mixes in strong, underlying themes seasoned with silly sarcasm. The hyper-real and strangely odd are presented in a single stream as if Bong has quietly usurped the mantle of surrealism from Terry Gilliam. Similar to the sarcasm of Parasite and the social stratification of Snowpiercer, Bong questions the core of humanity through the imprudent use of reprinting. This foolish inverse is wholly exacerbated with the Trumpian performance of Mark Ruffalo, as the colonists’ social media-driven supreme leader, and his wife Toni Collette, giving her Lady Macbeth best.

The story and the acting are paramount here. Bong allows both to play out masterfully. Whereas he previously employed action-movie stylings on Snowpiercer and monster f/x for The Host, he pulls back on the trickery for Mickey 17. Yes, the f/x are top notch, particularly in giving the creepers sentient physicality. However, it is Pattinson’s lionhearted performance that will be remembered. Mickey 17 is both comedic and unsettling; flighty and soul-searingly deep. Pattinson’s acting, like the Dude’s rug, is what ties everything together. Whereas as Bong wants to be outrageous and decisive, Pattinson’s role as Mickey grounds this sci-fi tale into believable realism. And that feat cannot always be easily duplicated. Or reprinted.