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Fiercely original filmmaking from a director whose even just good enough attempt fares much better than your average blockbusters, observes Mayur Sanap.
Watching an auteur filmmaker's work is to know what to expect and yet be pleasantly surprised.
Post his Parasite glory, Bong Joon-ho returns to the director's chair for Mickey 17, which has all his signature elements ticking the right boxes for a deliciously wacky and thought-provoking comedy.
With Robert Pattinson in the lead, the surprising aspect of Mickey 17 is that its socio-political conscience is far more plain-spoken than any of Joon-ho's earlier work. And even though the message is yet again domineering and a little too much on the nose, the whole enterprise succeeds as an entertaining romp that also provides food for thought.
Set in the distant future, Mickey Barnes (Pattinson) assigns himself as an 'expendable worker' on a space odyssey that aims to establish a human colony on planet Niflheim. The mission is governed by a pompous politician Kenneth Marshall (Mark Ruffalo) and his brutish wife Ylfa (Toni Collette).
As a part of exploratory research, Mickey is treated as a human lab rat that is tasked with several perilous chores. With each new task he is expected to die only to be regenerated the next day with his memories and personality perfectly updated to his latest iteration.
After an encounter with the native creatures of Nilfheim, the 17th version of Mickey is mistakenly assumed dead and replaced with a new clone, Mickey 18.
The previous version of Mickey makes it to the spaceship and comes face to face with his current version. As per the rule, only one version of an expendable may exist at one time otherwise they will be executed. The Mickeys fail to hide their truth which eventually leads to a chaotic situation.
Based on Edward Ashton's 2022 novel Mickey7, there's enough fodder for Bong Joon-ho to render a biting socio-political satire as he examines topics like wealth, race, power, social class, and the filmmaker's usual sobering observations on the inhumanity of the human race. All this while demonstrating his unmistakable style and humour as seen in Okja and the Oscar-winning 2019 sensation Parasite.
When it comes to its social allegory, Mickey 17 also has flashes of Snowpiercer, while the Niflheim creatures echo the monster from The Host and the snooty Marshall husband-wife duo feels like distant relatives of Parasite's rich Park family, that's cut off from the reality.
Joon-ho takes time to build up the drama as he slowly introduces us to this complex world with some long, but effective bits of exposition. The drama is laced with interludes of humorous situations with some zippy tonal shifts signature to Joon-ho.
Even though the storytelling and themes are very much similar to his earlier work, the dystopian satire in Mickey 17 feels distinct because of Joon-ho's relentless pursuit for a dead-pan, dark comedy.
The story moves in a pretty much straightforward manner, but that one big giveaway in the trailer relating to the Mickey 17/18 twist greatly impacts the excitement while watching the film. Really, the marketing campaigns don't need to be so flippant to grab our attention!
Thankfully, much of Mickey 17 is still very entertaining although it runs on mostly predictable beats once that plot twist is introduced.
Like all Bong Joon-ho productions, this film too largely benefits from its carefully picked ensemble cast.
Mark Ruffalo relishes the chance to let loose as a megalomaniac politician and he is perfectly complimented by Joon-ho's frequent collaborator Toni Collette whose character is pretty much the side B of her demented sociopath from Okja.
In her supporting performance, Naomi Ackie (of Lady Macbeth fame) gets a fantastic monologue towards the end as she rebukes Ruffalo's headman and his tyrannical ways. She also shines as Mickey's love interest and their interaction forms one particularly tender moment when she asks Mickey: 'What's it like to die?'
Pattinson continues to leave his Twilight boo-boo far, far behind and amps up his resume with yet another winning performance. The actor uses his squeaky voice and slender frame to great effect and submits himself to the madcap material without any diffidence.
Watch him in the scene when he vents anger on the meeker Mickey as his words change from exasperation to rage and then disappointment. It's hilariously awesome.
Mickey 17 doesn't break much new ground if you compare it with Joon-ho's earlier work like Memories of Murder and Snowpiercer or even Parasite. But it is a trip absolutely worth taking for a fiercely original piece of filmmaking from the director whose even just good enough attempt fares much better than your average blockbusters.
Do not miss.
