Directing his first studio movie with a considerable $100 million finances, Bong Joon Ho clearly leverages the immense goodwill and Oscar success he earned from his 2019 masterpiece “Parasite”—the primary foreign-language movie to win Finest Image. And whereas “Mickey 17” isn’t with out its flaws—it is often inconsistent tone, meandering plot, and considerably mundane pacing—the South Korean director stays steadfast in preserving his distinctive voice. He doesn’t compromise the movie’s goal or identification for the sake of interesting to mainstream sensibilities, regardless of Warner Bros. clearly hoping to capitalize on no matter he did subsequent. The result’s a movie that, whereas removed from good, is undeniably value celebrating, and its existence in theaters worldwide must be cheered.
Anybody anticipating Bong Joon Ho to melt his critique of capitalism, as seen in earlier movies like “Snowpiercer” and “Okja” or to make a extra commercially-friendly film, clearly wasn’t paying consideration. “Mickey 17” affords a welcome reprieve earlier than the flood of superhero films and franchise blockbusters take over the marquee. Whereas it doesn’t fairly stick the touchdown and will maybe have benefited from trimming half-hour within the modifying room, it nonetheless delivers a definite and refreshing cinematic expertise.
The movie additionally options one among Robert Pattinson’s most dedicated and quirky performances this aspect of Steve Buscemi, with the actor embracing the eccentricity of his position as Mickey. Set in 2054, Mickey is on the run from a ruthless mortgage shark and volunteers for a mission to assist colonize a brand new planet as a approach to escape. To take action, he has to change into an “expendable,” which primarily means he’ll function a lab rat, enduring a collection of harmful—typically deadly—duties by the hands of snarky, over-the-top politician Kenneth Marshall (Mark Ruffalo, hamming it up as if his “Poor Issues” character grew to become Donald Trump).
Every time Mickey dies, he’s reprinted through a know-how banned on Earth, and the movie picks up with the seventeenth model of that character. Alongside the best way, Mickey is joined by his soulmate, Nasha (Naomi Ackie, “Blink Twice”), and his good friend Timo (Steven Yeun), who inadvertently obtained him concerned with the mortgage shark and can also be making an attempt to flee dying. Moreover, there’s Marshall’s spouse, Ylfa (Toni Collette), a futuristic, hell-bent model of Martha Stewart. Like the remainder of the solid, Collette is sport for the wild, unpredictable antics Bong Joon Ho has cooked up. From explosive vomiting to communication with a large, rolly-pollie-like alien species known as “creepers,” to what is going to doubtless change into the 12 months’s most outlandish futuristic threesome, “Mickey 17” embraces its absurdity at each flip.
Based mostly on the novel by Edward Ashton, “Mickey 17” doesn’t shrink back from its idiosyncratic voice or its pointed social commentary, notably on the ineptitude of leaders devoid of integrity. The movie’s dystopian critique of Western tradition will resonate with anybody conversant in Bong Joon Ho’s earlier works. Whereas a few of his concepts and humor might get misplaced in translation, the colourful visuals—captured by cinematographer Darius Khondji—and a putting manufacturing design by Fiona Crombie, paired with Pattinson’s fearless efficiency, assist elevate “Mickey 17” past its imperfections.
MICKEY 17 is now enjoying in theaters.