‘Mickey 17’ is Bong Joon Ho’s return to dystopia

In the director’s first film since 'Parasite' more than five years ago, two Robert Pattinsons take on an evil billionaire in space.

Image: Warner Bros

Mickey 17 is about what might happen on the first day Elon Musk arrives on Mars. I hope so, anyway.

It’s the newest film from Bong Joon Ho, the great Korean director who last made 2019’s Parasite, which became the first foreign-language film to ever win the Best Picture Oscar. This is his first film since, one that arrives more than a year after its original scheduled release date.

Mickey 17 doesn’t belong anywhere near the top of Bong’s filmography, but it’s a mostly solid outing that features strong performances from Robert Pattinson, Mark Ruffalo, and Naomi Ackie.

The world-building is impressive, and it’s got some fascinating ideas, even if, from a visual standpoint, it’s nowhere close to Parasit. And while things get gross at times, it’s never anywhere nearly as perverse as Snowpiercer, which remains Bong’s best English-language film by far.

Robert Pattison, continuing his penchant for working for all of the best directors in the world, plays Mickey, a dim-witted guy in a future dystopia. After getting into trouble with some loansharks, he decides to flee the planet by signing up for a tour in space aboard a ramshackle ship.

Supervising all of it is Kenneth Marshall (Ruffalo), a failed politician-turned-space entrepreneur who certainly shares some qualities with Donald Trump although, from the space mission to the greed to the obsession with natalism, he’s got Elon Musk written all over him. He also has a wife (Toni Collette) who’s possibly more evil and repulsive than he is.

The premise borrows multiple premises from the Alien series, from the evil space corporation to the face-hugging aliens. But its main lift is from Duncan Jones’ Moon: Mickey has signed up to be an “expendable,” meaning he’s sent on dangerous missions on behalf of the corporation, in which he’ll inevitably be killed, only to be replaced by a clone of himself.

While Moon treated that as a twist, Mickey 17 makes it the main premise, as a lengthy prologue shows us how Mickey got to the 17th edition of his clone. Also, like in Moon, two versions of the clones end up alive at the same time- and Mickey 18, unlike the dim-witted and meek 17, is something of a tough guy, allowing Pattinson to play two very different characters.

(The film has an entertaining flashback that goes into why the cloning process was banned on Earth- and why “multiples” are considered an abomination.)

Eventually, the mission reaches a planet populated with those little aliens, with whom Mickey appears to have a bond.

Mickey 17 is at its best when it gets really weird. Like when Ruffalo feels the need, mid-mission, to host a talk show with silly music. Or when Naomi Ackie, as a love interest, decides to attempt a three-way with the two Mickeys, which raises all sorts of troubling ethical questions.

A bit less successful is the third act, which gets confusing and convoluted, especially during a mission involving the aliens. And the ending is somewhat abrupt.

I enjoyed the performances, with Pattinson finding different notes with the different Mickeys, and Ruffalo – shades of his Poor Things turn — once again finding success with an over-the-top character, in a collaboration with a leading auteur of world cinema.

Ackie also stands out, while the French-Romanian actress Anamaria Vartolomei- a dead ringer for a young Rachel Weisz — has some strong scenes as another woman on the ship.

While the delays indicated that Mickey 17 could be troubled, or even a dud, it mostly works, even if it’s not quite an instant Bong classic.