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Film Review — Mickey 17
Robert Pattinson captivates in Boon Joon-ho’s eccentric satirical sci-fi black comedy
If you’ll forgive my very Generation X allusion to a certain Toni Basil 1982 hit single, Mickey isn’t so fine that he blows my mind. Nonetheless, he arrested my attention and proved an entertaining watch. The Mickey in question, Mickey 17, is the new satirical sci-fi black comedy from Parasite (2019) director Bong Joon-ho. It isn’t as good as that singular masterpiece. Nor is it comparable on a genre level. But it touches on many of his socio-political preoccupations concerning rich-poor divides and inequalities.
There’s also a Trumpian villain in the form of egomaniacal failed senator Kenneth Marshall (a scene-stealing Mark Ruffalo). A few decades into the future, Marshall is commandeering an interplanetary expeditionary force to colonise the frozen planet Niflheim, along with many of his rabid MAGA-esque disciples. To escape debt and dismemberment via loan shark chainsaw, the titular Mickey Barnes (Robert Pattinson), along with his pal, Timo (Steven Yeun), join Marshall’s crew, with Mickey signing on for the ignominious role of “expendable”.
This hugely controversial technology, prohibited on Earth, involves the three-dimensional “printing” of new bodies into which Mickey downloads, every time he dies. As…
