By Matthew Moorcroft

Strong Recommendation

• Directed by Bong Joon-ho
• Starring Robert Pattinson, Naomi Ackie, Steven Yeun, Mark Ruffalo
• R

Finally arriving after several lengthy delays, Mickey 17 could not have been more timely. I don’t know how much it predicted much of the current political climate – likely none of intentionally, as it was written and shot long before the 2024 US elections as well as much of the other equally dire political arenas of this first half of the decade – but Mickey 17, like all of Bong Joon-ho’s work, has arrived at just the right time to make a salient point about late stage capitalism and it’s erosion on society.

Those in the know with Bong’s ideas at this point know the deal; this is a ridiculously entertaining, darkly hilarious genre picture that also effortlessly weaves in sometimes subtle, sometimes blunt (though in this case mostly blunt) social commentary and introspective character work within that framework. But you know this. Bong is one of our living greats for a reason. Comparing this to something like Parasite as well is pointless, as that’s something amazing even by his high standards and was never, ever going to be in the same ballpark. Frankly, if it was, that would be the real story.

Instead, I wanna talk about Mickey 17 to talk about Robert Pattinson, who has officially crossed into the threshold of one of our most reliable character actors, maybe even among our very best in general. Mickey Barnes is clearly a difficult role to pull off, mainly on the nature of having to keep his personality the same throughout the many different versions that show up on screen and then also making them distinct characters in their own right. Pattinson mostly has to do this with the two main versions of Mickey that show up here – the titular 17 and his successor, 18 – but also the original Mickey and several others who have to feel like their own people. It’s a tough role but Pattinson is able to pull it off effortlessly and with a sly sense of humor thanks to great comedy chops and a love of weird accents.

Because of Pattinson, the rest of the movie is elevated along with him. With Bong keeping the pace fast and breezy, the film moves along at almost breakneck speed with very little breathing room. Throwing almost anything at the wall and seeing what sticks, there is a sense that sometimes there is almost too much going on in this, with some plot points abandoned by the halfway point and the story shifting focus twice throughout it’s runtime. But there is a madcap appeal to seeing Bong’s mastery over scene tone and ability to genrebend applied on a big budget scale like this. Some sequences switch from farce to horror to action to esoteric sci-fi within literal seconds, and keeping up with it sometimes is part of the fun; you never quite know what he’s going to do next.

And once you reach it’s surprisingly small scale climax – it’s basically two locations with only 4 or 5 named characters – Bong keeps things tightly close to the chest, even at the very end once the final images unfold. Compared the ambiguity of Parasite‘s ending, which was bleak in it’s implications, Mickey 17 offers a more hopeful resolution to universal issues, even if they are as simple as “get rid of them”. It’s not like it lacks nuance, however. The movie smartly makes some interesting perspectives on how fascism can literally split a person into multiple selves just to survive, and there is a racial angle that feels bold even for somebody like Bong. It’s just not subtle about much of it’s own ideas, which is totally fine – it doesn’t need to be, and with the high energy angle of the picture one could argue it’s a feature, not a bug.

I’m mostly just glad Mickey 17 exists in it’s current form. In a day and age where it feels like blockbusters being auteur driven and actually unique in flavor is dying out, we get something like this which renews that faith completely. And while I don’t expect anybody to walk away thinking Mickey 17 is anybody’s favorite Bong Joon-ho picture – it’s a bit messy and ultimately feels a little undercooked despite it’s bluntness – it’s so entertaining and even enthralling in it’s best moments that you can’t help but appreciate it.