You’ve got to admire Robert Pattinson. Since his star-making turn as Edward in the TWILIGHT film franchise, he’s gone out of his way to take on one challenging role after another. Be it in THE LIGHTHOUSE, HIGH LIFE or even assuming the role of THE BATMAN after so many others have played it before him, Pattinson is nothing if not a risk-taker. He lives up to his maverick reputation once again, this time as a lovable loser who gets involved with cloning in the new sci-fi comedy MICKEY 17.
It’s the follow-up film from Bong Joon Ho after his Oscar-winning PARASITE took the world by storm in 2019. His newest is ambitious, to say the least, full of big themes, lots of action, and a CGI budget that was likely triple what he spent on the entirety of his Academy Award Best Picture. Like Pattinson, he too is a risk-taker, but this film, while admirable and accomplished, isn’t quite all it should and could be. Still, kudos to both of them for showing us something unique and audacious.
In MICKEY 17, just as in the 2022 science fiction novel Mickey 7 by Edward Ashton that it is adapted from, the story takes place in a future filled with space travel and odd, newly discovered planets and species. Earth still has its multitudes of recognizable problems, and petty crime is one of them. Mickey and his partner Timo (Steven Yuen) are bad at being bad and soon enough they’re up to their necks with a vicious loan shark. He promises to chase them to the ends of the planet to get his money back and if they cannot pay, he’ll kill them.
Desperate, and broke, the two on the lam sign up for space travel to colonize the planet Nilfheim — Timo as a pilot and Mickey as an “Expendable.” Expendables are disposable human beings who agree to lethal assignments to test against diseases, parasites, and hostile planet environments, so that means that every time Mickey dies from one thing or another, he’s recreated to keep serving as a guinea pig.
This cloning program called “reprinting” here, makes for a fascinating first act of the film. The way Mickey dies is so tragic, that the episodes become darkly hilarious. His narration keeps them from becoming too morbid as well since he always “lives” to fight another day and tell us about it. His life isn’t all that bad in its way, as he even finds time to develop a romantic relationship with Nasha Barridge (Naomi Ackie), a security agent.
Bong ups the ante by introducing a vicious but idiotic politician named Kenneth Marshall (Mark Ruffalo) who is aboard to head up the colonization efforts. He’s aided by his manipulative wife Ylfa (Toni Collette), and they rule the ship with a MAGA/Scientology-like hold over their adoring minions. They have little use for expendables such as Mickey, but they become intrigued by him when he survives a mission on the planet where he should’ve been eaten by the savage inhabitants.
The creepers, as they’re dubbed, look like a cross between cockroaches and armadillos, albeit the size of pugs or buffalo, depending upon their age. Suddenly, everyone is looking to the 17th version of Mickey to determine why the bug-like creatures didn’t squash him. Does he hold the key to colonizing in peace? It’s a great twist, enhanced by the fact that a Mickey 18 clone has already been reprinted, so now two Mickeys are running about the ship. Pattinson has a lot of fun playing off himself as 17 is meek and kind, while 18 has turned out snide and obnoxious.
But then Bong’s ambitions get the best of his film. New characters are introduced, numerous subplots steal focus, and the creepers turn into a special effects extravaganza as hundreds of them surround the landed spaceship hoping to retrieve a baby creeper that’s been taken hostage. Pattinson may be playing multiple Mickeys but both of them start to get buried in all the plot and chaos. The film starts to feel padded with scenes going on and on that clearly could have been edited down, and the story becomes repetitious. It’s almost as if the best parts of the story are themselves being “reprinted.”
There is much to admire in this film, from Pattinson’s performances to the comedic villainy of Ruffalo and Colette to the increasingly impressive special effects that come to dominate the Third Act. Yet, these superb elements get thwarted by a story that doesn’t know when to quit. As clever as it all is, the film becomes bloated and drags. It’s like a funny dinner party guest who doesn’t know when to leave and keeps yammering on and on.
MICKEY 17 is a shrewd effort, darkly played and working both as a flight of the fanciful and a stinging critique of colonization and overreaching patriarchy that always holds the common man down. If only the tale told here was a little bit tighter.
