Following Parasite’s historic awards season run, anticipation was at an all-time high for Bong Joon Ho’s next project. And after multiple delays, Mickey 17 has finally arrived. This bonkers science fiction satire fits perfectly into Bong’s ambitious sensibilities, and continues to cement him as one of the most talented and versatile filmmakers working today. Far from his strongest work, but any amount of Bong Joon Ho is still a big win for cinema.
Adapted from Edward Ashton’s 2022 novel, Mickey7, the film is set in a dystopian future where technology exists to regenerate a human body along with its preexisting memories. Those who choose to be ‘expendables’ are essentially relegated to lethal tasks that result in a cycle of death and rebirth, a process banned on Earth, and only allowed in the outer limits of space.
Robert Pattison plays Mickey Barnes, a lost soul who signs up to be an expendable on a space mission travelling to the un-colonized planet Nilfheim. During his travels, he meets Nasha (Naomi Ackie), who changes his outlook on life, motivating him to cherish living, rather than superfluously reanimating himself to no end. Failed politician, Kenneth Marshall (Mark Ruffalo) and his devoted wife, Ylfa (Toni Collette), spearhead the mission and clearly have far from altruistic motives. Steven Yeun also appears as Timo, one of Mickey’s childhood friends who manages to work as a pilot on the ship.
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In a manner that has become so characteristic of Bong’s filmmaking prowess, Mickey 17 establishes its quirky and emotionally ecstatic worldview right from the outset. Bong clearly had a very specific vision in mind, and everything from the film’s aesthetics to Pattinson’s bold performance aligns with a commanding and singular artistic voice. The film bounces around from being inquisitively thoughtful, emotionally intense to oddly tender, but somehow weaved together by Bong’s often twisted comedic undertones.
Mickey 17 should, and does, feel disjointed at times, with an unflinchingly versatile narrative that flails in multiple directions. Yet, under the guise of such a revered filmmaker, the story never fully loses its grip, and maintains cohesion in the midst of all the chaos.
The chaotic elements of the film also leans into Bong’s satirical approach to narration, where a flurry of thoughtful choices are used to illustrate the absurdities of both religious and cult-like zeitgeists. The film questions how the world values human life in the vein of societal divides, a concept that Bong continues to invest his cinematic efforts into.
Using the regeneration concept as a currency to explore this issue, Mickey 17 very clearly sides with its protagonists, relegating any opposition to silly characterizations. Creating more space to flesh out the erroneous worldviews of Collete and Ruffalo’s characters would have added more nuance and balance to the conversation, but this doesn’t necessarily detract from the story’s purposeful indictment on the rich and wealthy.
On further reflection, it’s also clear that Bong has always been a master of pacifying chaos, and seems to thrive in turbulent storytelling, perhaps best illustrated in Parasite. The 2019 film flourished in its measured narration, before taking a tempestuous turn towards its melodramatic, yet emotionally resonant, third act. Bong finds a way to reel in a unified narrative voice that’s somehow anchored in realism. This sense of realism, regardless of fantastical elements, allows for a more humanistic approach to storytelling, which is a central tenet of all his films. Mickey 17’s DNA is arguably most closely shared with Okja (and to a lesser extent, The Host), which also wrestles with a high-concept narrative backbone, while never losing sight of its character-driven emotional aptitude.
That being said, Mikey 17 doesn’t necessarily carry itself with the same level of competency as some of Bong’s previous films, faltering in its ability to temporize its bombastic narrative. As a whole, the film almost feels a bit too chaotic, shifting gears every time the story seems to find its footing. While this might’ve been intentional to help convey Mickey’s shifting personalities as he traverses through multiple rounds of death, this lack of cohesion ultimately dampens the protagonist’s overall character arc. The culminating impact of his journey feels lighter than it should, despite Pattinson’s strong and eager performance.
Part of the issue might also stem from Bong working outside of the Korean language/setting, which likely also impacted the quality of his last (mostly) English narrative, Snowpiercer. As is often the case, Asian filmmakers just can’t seem to fully thrive when working outside of their home base. We saw this with Wong Kar-wai for My Blueberry Nights, Ringo Lam with his Jean-Claude Van Damme films, and even John Woo – who did quite well with Face/Off and Broken Arrow – but couldn’t necessarily muster the creative energy to match his classic Hong Kong films.
Some might argue that Stoker, The Little Drummer Girl and The Sympathizer are exceptional in their own right, but Park Chan-wook’s Korean films still show him at his best. Ang Lee might be the exception to the rule here, who despite having his fair share of failures in Hollywood, also created masterpieces like Brokeback Mountain and Sense and Sensibility (among others [Editor’s Note: including the best Hulk!).
Using Okja as an example – which features Hollywood talent and the use of the English language, but still predominantly a Korean production – Bong’s overall creative vision and execution feels inherently more refined. A certain cultural divide must be the key here, as many non-Asian, non-English-as-their-first-language filmmakers have had better success crossing into Hollywood (take ‘The Three Amigos’ – Guillermo del Toro, Alfonso Cuarón and Alejandro Iñárritu – as examples).
International filmmakers likely continue to gravitate towards Hollywood productions for the opportunity to work with a bigger budget, in addition to collaborating with renowned talent. In the case of Mickey 17, the culmination of on-screen talent (Pattinson, Ackie, Yeun, Collette, and Ruffalo)offers, on its own, enough of a reason already. Pattinson, in particular, shines within the narrative’s eccentric canvas. His performance feels unflinchingly ambitious, showcasing his varied emotional and comedic range. Hard to say if this is a career best for him, given his extensively impressive filmography, but this certainly sits high on the totem pole. Collette and Ruffalo are also unabashedly silly, chewing up the scenery in a manner that befits their bizarre characters.
Those hoping for another masterpiece from the great Bong Joon Ho might just be a tad bit disappointed, but Mickey 17 nonetheless still provides a creatively charged exercise in storytelling. Despite its flaws, the film still feels inherently cinematic — a through line in all of Bong’s films. No matter what he does, the stakes remain high for an experience that simply lives and breathes cinema, and Mickey 17 is no exception.
