Mickey 17 Review: Bong Joon-ho and Robert Pattinson redefine survival in a dystopian odyssey

4/5

Mickey 17 Review: Story: Mickey Barnes (Robert Pattinson) is a good-for-nothing man who, on his friend Timo’s (Steven Yeun) advice, takes a loan from a dangerous loan shark. The macron business flops, and now the shark wants his money back. In a desperate attempt to flee far away from the shark, the two sign up for a space expedition program, and Mickey unknowingly signs up to be an expendable. His job is to die and come alive again through a human printing machine, taking off from where he left last time. In a weird turn of events, Mickey 18 is printed at the lab, but Mickey 17, assumed dead, is still alive, creating the problem of Multiples—an abomination banned on the planet. Now, they must be killed and erased from living memory. How will Mickey 17 save his identity and stop the evil Kenneth Marshal (Mark Ruffalo) from destroying Niflheim’s creepers?

Mickey 17 Review:

The caliber of writing movies that are coded and fully loaded with metaphors and messaging while being entertaining in a way that doesn’t alienate an audience in no mood to decode the art is divine. Not many writers and filmmakers walk the earth with this ability, and the few that do are busy shaping some very great films. Remember how Parasite became a prime example of such a writing technique—where it was a thriller for the suckers of commercial cinema and a gut-wrenching satire for those in search of art, catering to both at the same time? Bong Joon-ho proved exactly why he is a master of this craft, and we all celebrated. Now, half a decade and an Oscar victory later, when the filmmaker returns to the big screen with an actor as big as Robert Pattinson, does he stick to his idea of making films or do something completely different?

Well, the answer is he finds comfort in what he has already done, while introducing novelty in exactly what he wants to. A filmmaker so brave that he makes a satire reflecting real-world leaders in a way that you might need a moment to realize. Right when a massive tycoon is promoting space expeditions in the real world, calling everyone saying otherwise a waste, Bong Joon-ho adapts Edward Ashton’s novel Mickey7, a story of a boy who signs up to be expendable because living on Earth on the margins has given him enough pain that maybe even multiple deaths cannot top. Mickey 17 blooms exactly at the point where the trailer ends because there is so much more to this movie than what was in the trailer. 

That there will be much more in the movie than what meets the eye is, of course, a given fact. But the art lies in the fact that Mickey 17 is interesting and exciting even if you do not want to search beneath the surface or dig deep. The movie is shaped to be a Space Odyssey gone horribly wrong because a comic leader knows literally nothing about the things he is signing people up for. His only eligibility is that he is rich. So when Barnes keeps dying or when Marshal acts like he cares, you are still very much invested even if you are not really grasping the message.

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Bong Joon-ho, through Mickey 17, is exploring the importance of identity. It looks at immigrants and what it feels like to be stuck between those exploiting and those being exploited. Marshal, played by Ruffalo, is looking to establish a ‘Pure Settlement.’ Pure, for him, means the rich and no one else. But he is also clever enough to convince the working class that they will have a share in the victory by the end of it—while he plans to share none because they do not ‘deserve’ a seat at his table. And even if they do, they are only supposed to be his lab rats. A beautifully chaotic scene unfolds when Mickey 17 is invited by Marshal for a dinner privilege, which, technically, is an experiment on him. At this point, everyone’s forgotten he was once a human, with no data stored in a brick, cursed to be printed again and again.

So when he is about to die while puking, the first thing that Marshal’s wife wants to save is her pristine carpet, which she has taken to Niflheim from Earth. In this moment, Joon-ho decodes the meaning of identity and how capitalism snatches that from the working class, reducing them to nothing more than cattle. The layers of oppression and destruction unfold to empower the rich so they can have a good life while the working class toils for them—it’s haunting. It is almost like you are laughing at Mickey 17’s situation until you realize that Marshal is actually laughing at you through the screen.

There is so much to decode in Mickey 17 that I will need a second viewing very soon. The way it looks at humans claiming everything they stand on while calling the inhabitants ‘aliens,’ when in reality, they are the true aliens, is a reminder of everything happening around the world to extend borders. “Eradicate the alien creatures,” says Marshal. “They aren’t the aliens here, but we are,” replies Nasha. A very simple but haunting exchange that reminds you how greed has taken over the human race. That Bong Joon-ho can communicate this while making you laugh is a talent that must be preserved and celebrated each day.

While Parasite was about rebellion that takes a criminal path, Mickey 17 is about the power of community. What if the inhabitants march together to bring down the real aliens who want to snatch what is actually theirs? The visually stunning climax is a sheer treat. Robert Pattinson as Mickey Barnes delivers simply one of the best performances of the year. The actor plays a double role, and he does it so well. You have never seen him do this before, and we wish he had done more of this because the ease with which he plays two shades of the same character in the same film is fascinating.

Talking about fascinating—how can we forget Mark Ruffalo, who is so convinced that Marshal is right that there is not a single hint of reservation in his portrayal? He brings out both ruthlessness and humor in the same line, and not many actors can do that. Don’t be shocked if you see him taking home a lot of awards next season. The rest—Naomi Ackie, Steven Yeun—are all brilliant in their parts.

Having said that, Mickey 17 is not as pitch-perfect as Parasite. The story takes broad-stroke jumps at some points. The romantic equations sometimes feel thrown in randomly. But the drama and messaging working in divine synergy help conceal these shortcomings.

Mickey 17 Review: Final Verdict

The art of being Bong Joon-ho must be explored because there is no one who can tell two stories in one like he does. Robert Pattinson is at the top of his game, and the fact that he goes on to play Batman after this epic performance should make us all go crazy with excitement.

Mickey 17 will release on Indian screens on March 7, 2025. Stay tuned to OTTplay for more information on this and everything else from the world of streaming and films.

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