The road to Bong Joon-Ho’s next project after his Oscar-winning class-struggle thriller Parasite was paved with immensely high expectations, even as it became clear he was actually returning to Snowpiercer’s high-budget action spectacle. Anticipation for Mickey 17 increased after its release was delayed, only for this to become his most polarizing film once everyone got to see it. Perhaps it’s ironic that his latest American studio blockbuster seems to lack the same wide appeal as the Korean-language Parasite, sharply dividing the same audiences who loved his other work. Indeed, Mickey 17 is one big, bizarre swing for the fences that may not appeal to all tastes by design. For those who can get on Joon-Ho’s specific creative wavelength, though, it very much entertains as a madcap interstellar farce.
Mickey 17 begins in the near future, where mankind’s latest scientific advancements have extended to cloning people for regenerating them postmortem. This technology was soon banned on Earth for ethical reasons, so it’s strictly used in space to help colonize other worlds. One such “Expendable” is Mickey Barnes (Robert Pattinson), a financially struggling Earth citizen desperate to flee his home planet, even if that comes at the cost of his identity. Unbeknownst to Mickey, at least until it’s far too late, he essentially signed up for donating his body to medical research, which proves useful for helping other spacemen explore the frigid planet Niflheim without dying themselves. When Mickey’s 17th clone is left for dead in a deep gorge, however, he survives his dangerous plight against all odds… only to find yet another clone—the 18th—has already been “printed” to take his place. “Multiples” (two clones of the same individual) have been outlawed due to past complications, and Mickey’s 18th clone doesn’t take kindly to a prior replica arriving to take his place.
From Jordan Peele’s Us to Denis Villeneuve’s Enemy, doppelgängers have regularly cropped up in horror or psychological suspense. It isn’t as common for them to be placed so front and center in a speculative science-fiction setting, not even such a clearly absurd one. Edge of Tomorrow also followed a protagonist who repeatedly dies and regenerates on an interplanetary battleground, but seemed far more inspired by Groundhog Day than, say, The Double. Drawing from Edward Ashton’s novel Mickey7, Mickey 17 has real fun with its utterly ridiculous premise, as the two Mickeys embody such different personalities despite technically being the same person. Mickey 17 is fairly meek and reserved, whereas Mickey 18 is far more brash and aggressive. Appearances aside, all they have in common is being romantically attracted to the same fellow crewmate, Nasha Barridge (Naomi Ackie), which only further pits the two against each other.
One might expect Mickey 17 to completely push this outlandish concept to its furthest logical conclusion, since that initially functions as the story’s central backbone. Either due to Ashton’s source material or Joon-Ho’s own choices in adapting his words to screen, it soon veers off in the total opposite direction of that. By its third act, Mickey 17 actually manages to feel more reminiscent of Avatar or Starship Troopers than what it began as. Parasite also morphed into a pretty different experience as it went on, but crucially kept its sequence of events centered on escalating the tense central stakes at play, helping each unexpected tonal shift feel natural and appropriate. Joon-Ho proved in Parasite that he can toy with a variety of different genres while still creating a tight narrative, yet Mickey 17 is too overstuffed with messy ideas to feel quite as seamless in execution.
Joon-Ho’s unsubtle brand of social commentary usually works for all his films, but verges on being a double-edged sword in this one. While Mickey 17 does cleverly satirize capitalism and contemporary social issues, some of its pointed political jabs feel rather forced. Case in point, Mark Ruffalo’s obnoxiously egomaniacal Trumpian character, who just grows tiresome to watch once you understand the heavy-handed punchline he’s intended as. By its action-heavy climax, Mickey 17 adopts a more environmentalist slant as well, questioning the ethics of colonizing foreign lands. Joon-Ho’s heart is clearly in the right place, but with how many themes are already being juggled, this message doesn’t feel as impactful as it really should.
If Mickey 17’s ambition isn’t entirely successful, it’s still elevated by such exceptional craftsmanship. Joon-Ho is clearly talented at constructing stellar set design and cinematography out of the large budgets he’s given, even if the end product ultimately lacks some of the personality found in his Korean catalogue. Pattinson has long since absolved himself of Twilight through the likes of Josh & Benny Safdie (Good Time) and Robert Eggers (The Lighthouse), so it comes as no surprise that working with Joon-Ho is just as perfect a fit. In no small part due to his impressive acting range, the two Mickeys play off each other so well throughout, yet feel purely distinct through individual mannerisms alone. Mickey 17 may be too unwieldy to fully deliver on all its true potential, but even a weaker Joon-Ho is by no remote means uninteresting. Whether he stays within the studio system or eventually returns to his Korean roots, Mickey 17 demonstrates enough imaginative skill to prove Joon-Ho is still capable of excelling at both.
