A cloning experiment with laughs and great visuals.
Bong Joon-Ho deserved that Oscar for “Parasite,” and “Mickey 17” is his first entry in years. It’s riveting that, unlike some movies which shall remain nameless, the movie doesn’t overexploit his Oscar-winning talents, and wants to take a different spin on the cloning genre as well as the dying genre. What I’m trying to say is imagine if Bill Murray’s “Groundhog Day” character was part of a cloning experiment that required him to die over and over again for the good of all mankind. the reason why I didn’t use Tom Cruise or Jake Gyllenhaal’s names is because “Mickey 17” likes to take the comedic approach on the subject matter.
Robert Pattinson is the main dying subject, and he delivers with a wacky charm to himself and his fans, who know and acknowledge how he has broken free from his “Twilight” persona.
The movie takes place in the future when scientists have developed a cloning program that illegal on Earth, but legal in space. The mission is to colonize a frozen planet and fatal experiments must be performed in order for humanity to survive on it. This cloning program will copy the DNA and mind of the person known as an “Expendable,” and reprint a new body. And the main subject is Mickey (Pattinson), who agrees to become an Expendable, because life on Earth sucks for him and he has nothing left to lose.
Mickey is on his 17th life, but when he’s presumed dead, he returns to the ship and finds his 18th version. This would make these Mickeys “multiples,” which are also illegal.
The project is aimed by former congressman Kenneth Marshall (Mark Ruffalo), who looks like Garry Shandling trying to do his own Donald Trump impression, and has his wife Ylfa (Toni Collette) by his side. They both have different devious intentions for that planet, which is inhabited by pillbug-like creatures known to humans as “creepers.” If you look at these creatures, they would look like something out of a movie Hayao Miyazaki would make.
The supporting cast of “Mickey 17” also includes Naomi Ackie as Mickey’s girlfriend Nasha, who works as a security agent on the ship and loves his sex jokes (don’t worry I won’t spoil it here). Anamaria Vartolomei (“Happening”) plays Kai, a security agent, who gets in the middle of what appears to be a threesome. And Steven Yeun plays Timo, his former business partner, who now works as a pilot. The earlier scenes with him and Pattinson regard mobsters, and being a Sci-Fi comedy, this is like a better version of a subplot in “The Adventures of Pluto Nash.” Probably not the best time for me to mention that disaster in my review.
Parts of the film drag on a bit which makes the film a little long, but “Mickey 17” still has great visuals, some wise laughs, and charming and wacky performances. I’m talking, of course, about Pattinson in a dual role as 17 and 18, and how he displays his teeth and voice to make the character(s) comical. But he also does a good job acting like a character worthy of a Joon-ho film.
I’ve praised Ruffalo for channeling a Peter Sellars voice in “Poor Things,” and I still can’t get over his Shandling” voice in this movie. I wonder what comedy legend he’ll channel later in his acting career, though I doubt it would be Rodney Dangerfield or John Belushi.
And Ackie is entertaining and smart as the girlfriend who succumbs to no relationship cliches, and actually thrives on whatever happens within her chemistry with Mickey. I’m talking to Lady Gaga’s take on Harley Quinn in “Joker: Follie a Deux,” who was revealed to be a complete cynic who doesn’t know the meaning of the word “flexibility.”
As you know, this isn’t Joon-ho’s first English-language feature (that would be “Snowpiercer” and “Okja”), so he does know how to direct domestic and international features with his own ambiance and taste. And he has a lot of it here, especially when taking on the Sci-Fi comedy genre, which right here feels different from movies like “Guardians of the Galaxy” or “Galaxy Quest.” There are still some challenges to withhold while watching “Mickey 17,” and the results are multiple, which is a good thing.