MICKEY 17 is one of those lucky breaks humanity gets every once in a while where for some reason some American company gives South Korean master Bong Joon Ho (THE HOST, PARASITE) a whole bunch of money for a big, weird, wonderful English-language goof that they have no idea how to make money off of. The fucking Weinsteins did it as distributors of SNOWPIERCER, Netflix did it with OKJA, now it’s Warner Bros.’ turn with a movie that shares elements with both of those but speaks directly to this specific era of capitalistic exploitation, idiotic cults of asshole personality, and just all-around reckless stupidity. But in a fun sci-fi way. It’s based on the 2022 novel Mickey7 by Edward Ashton, but its sensibilities are unmistakably Bong Joon Ho.
Robert Pattinson (THE ROVER) stars and narrates as the 17th clone of Mickey Barnes, a harmless doofus who, in debt to a loan shark over his failed macaron business, tries to flee by signing up as an “expendable” on a flight to colonize the snowy planet Niflheim. This is not a common line of work – everybody acts shocked when he writes it on the form, and keeps double-checking that he read the paperwork. Basically, nobody’s been stupid enough to sign up before, but he agreed to it out of ignorance and because a lady’s shampoo scent reminded him of his mom. He admits this with embarrassment but also like he’s telling a funny story you might be able to relate to.
What they do is send him on dangerous jobs, or even just do fucked up medical experiments on him, and when he dies they just “print out” a new clone body and upload his memories to it. He’s reticent to complain, even to us, but it’s not exactly like having unlimited lives in a video game – he still has to experience the pain and suffering of each death, and nobody he works with (even/especially earth friend/business partner Timo [Steven Yeun, SORRY TO BOTHER YOU]) seems to notice or give a fuck what he’s going through.
There was much controversy about cloning on Earth, all the religious scholars, ethicists and philosophers “were stumped,” he says, by the implications, especially after its inventor (Edward Davis, EMMA.) was caught using clones to aid in his side project as a serial killer of homeless people. So demagogue ex-Congressman Kenneth Marshall (Mark Ruffalo, THE DENTIST) proposed the loophole of using it only in space, and only for this job.
Marshall is on the flight, and treated as royalty, which is how Mickey meets his soulmate Nasha (Naomi Ackie, THE RISE OF SKYWALKER) – they spot each other across the cafeteria when they’re the only ones not applauding for Marshall. Nasha might know better than to celebrate him, Mickey might just not know who exactly the guy is, but they meet and become inseparable and she’s the only one who bothers to comfort him when he’s suffering.
The Marshall character seems to be make-or-break for many people’s enjoyment of the movie. Like Jake Gyllenhaal in OKJA, or himself in POOR THINGS, Ruffalo gives a very broad, intentionally grating performance that makes me laugh but may just be annoying for others. It also makes it a little on the nose because undeniably some of the stupid voice and bizarre expressions he’s using are an imitation of the specific idiotic goon we currently have doing car infomercials on the White House lawn. The character is not a direct parallel – he has a controlling wife named Ylfa (Toni Collette, xXx: RETURN OF XANDER CAGE), he comes up with a few policy proposals, he lost enough elections to leave politics, and he makes at least a half-assed effort to fake being Christian. (Oh man, do I wish they could get the real Trump to try leading a prayer like this one does. That would be pretty funny.)
I don’t like having quasi-Trumps in movies, but I do think there’s a point when the satire really intersects effectively with the moment and makes it all worth it. For some reason Marshall hosts a late night talk show called Tonight with Kenneth Marshall, he has a giant chunk of Niflheim rock placed on the stage, and he keeps talking about how manly and beautiful it is. You gotta admit it doesn’t even feel that exaggerated at this point. I can absolutely see Trump deciding he’s a late night talk show host and then insisting on doing something as random and nonsensical as putting a giant rock and gushing over it. Of course he would do it and of course his people would do what he says and of course people would watch it and act like it made sense. We’re there. It’s funny/sad because it’s true.
(Incidentally, PARASITE had an important chunk of rock in it too. I’d like to hear/think more about Bong and his rocks.)
I do think it’s good that Marshall has somewhat sparing screen time. There are many great small characters, and it’s always fun when Yeun gets to play a dick, but the movie is mostly on the shoulders of Pattinson, giving a great comedic performance as a semi-likable dumb guy. Funny voice, funny physicality, perfect delivery of oddball jokes like a crucial scene where he expects some giant caterpillar things called creepers to eat him, instead they carry him out of their cave to safety, and he takes offense that they thought he would taste bad. Only much later when he recounts the story to Nasha does he realize that they saved his life, and then only because she points it out to him.
For me this is legit sci-fi because part of the fun is the details of this world, the way the cloning tech works, the way the people on the ship operate, the lab lady with the round glasses (Patsy Ferran, Miss Austen) who works for horrible people but you find yourself liking her because she’s more observant and has more of a conscience than the others. There’s no ethical consumption under capitalism I guess so even rebel dream girl Nasha has to work as a cop/soldier (and also firefighter), though she ends up in a cell as often as Mickey does. At times I kind of thought of this as a cousin to ALIEN RESURRECTION and the more pure Jean-Pierre Jeunet movies. Funnier, no Alien, but similar, in a way. With notes of Jodorowsky comics, Terry Gilliam and Paul Verhoeven. But all this stirs together into pure Bong.
I’ve heard complaints that it’s long and messy, and since it was delayed for a while there is speculation about this or that being done in reshoots. I would argue that it is perfectly reasonable to not like those qualities of the movie, but that they are intrinsic to it; that a tighter and more disciplined version would be not as distinct or memorable. I think it’s especially of a piece with OKJA – this is Bong’s sense of humor, and part of the ride he wants to take us on in these ones. I like that Nasha doesn’t fall perfectly into a box – we can be invested in their love while also seeing her sometimes be petty, or quickly won over by the kink value of getting with two Mickeys at the same time. I like that Kai (Anamaria Vartolomei, THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO) is going to narc out the crime of “multiples” until she thinks she can keep one of them. I don’t think characters being more reasonable would be better. I also like that the authorities are too stupid to figure out that the hordes of creepers are surrounding the ship because of the baby creeper they recently captured. Sometimes a caricature is more appropriate than a photograph.
But I like that under that sketch of a cruel, stupid universe there’s still a strong optimism – a pure-hearted belief that the nice people among all these dumbasses could get a chance to try to create a better world, and also a Miyazaki-ian sense that nature will persevere. Those creepy/adorable creepers aren’t gonna put up with our shit, and they shouldn’t.
March 31st, 2025 at 8:01 am
I applaud whatever the hell this is getting made in this day and age of across-the-board cowardice, but I can’t see myself pulling the trigger on this anytime soon. On-the-nose satire of *gestures broadly* is a hard sell right now, but mostly I wish this starred somebody else. I find it completely impossible to get excited about anything with Robert Pattinson in it. Whatever alleged charisma he’s got I seemed to have been inoculated against at a young age. To me, he always comes off as distractingly sullen and dull. I find him completely uninteresting as a screen presence. A handsome, vaguely movie star-shaped void where a leading man should be. I cannot get invested in him no matter how many chances I give him. The one time I’ve gotten even the slightest hint of whatever all the millennials see in him was TENET, and even then, anybody with cheekbones and the ability to smirk on cue could have played that role. Normally, I’d try to get over may distaste for an actor in the case of a movie that’s clearly a lot more than just a star vehicle, but he’s the title character. Apparently, there are 17 of him. That’s about 18 times more Pattinson than I can handle.