Ok, 17, if anyone asks – you’re that sparkly vampire guy, and I’m Batman. — Photos: Handout
Mickey is used to dying. After all, he has done so 16 times already. When we meet the latest one, Mickey 17 (Robert Pattinson), he has just fallen down an icy cavern, and is about to be devoured by an alien lifeform. His best friend Timo (Steven Yuen) leaves him there to die, because, “hey, they’ll just print you out again anyway”.
Welcome to the life (or lives) of an ‘Expandable’, whose only job is to die, over and over again. After each death, Mickey’s body gets ‘reprinted’ again with all his memories intact, and ready for his next death.
So, who better to send on potentially deadly missions during a risky space journey to set up a human colony on an inhospitable alien planet?
Need someone to check if the air is breathable? Send Mickey. Need to perfect a deadly toxin? Let Mickey test it. Need a patsy to capture a deadly alien creature? Assign Mickey.
Forget the town, this ROOM ain't big enough for the both of us.
Being an Expandable sucks, especially when your bosses are the egomaniacal, narcissist failed politician Kenneth Marshall (Mark Ruffulo) and his sauce-obsessed wife Ylfa (Toni Collete), and your best friend is the main reason you got into trouble with a notorious loan shark and had to flee Earth in the first place.
Add to that, the appearance of a new Mickey (18) who was printed after you were presumed dead, and you’ll understand why, hey, Mickey is not so fine.
(Ok, his relationship with Nasha (Naomi Ackie) is pretty fine, but that’s not the point).
After the Endgame, Smart Hulk decided to become Political Hulk instead.
Based on the 2022 novel Mickey7 by Edward Ashton, the man behind the camera for this adaptation is none other than Bong Joon-ho, whose last movie was the Best Picture Oscar-winning Parasite in 2019.
At first, Mickey 17 might seem like a big departure from Parasite. However, this kooky sci-fi has more similarities with the likes of The Host, Okja and Snowpiercer than Parasite (though the subject of Bong’s usual social and political critique is a lot more obvious than his previous films).
Space will never be the final frontier for Mickey.
The star of the show is Pattinson, of course. It’s hard enough having to die over and over again, but Pattinson’s performance is strong enough to make you sympathise with his plight every single time, no matter how little time that particular version may have (one is alive for only 15 minutes).
At times it does feel like he is overdoing the sniveling loser bit a little too much, but it’s also a necessary evil, to contrast with the angrier, meaner angry Mickey 18. Still, it’s hard not feel for him when you see the heartbreaking resignation in his eyes each time Mickey realises that he’s dying (again).
Hey Mickey, can I be your Minnie?
It’s hard to pinpoint exactly what sort of movie this is, as it has elements of comedy, horror, sci-fi, psychological thriller, monster action, and even romance. There’s a sense of tragic comedy to Mickey’s plight, but at the same time, there is a tenderness to his relationship with Nasha that somehow makes it feel right.
And let’s not get started on the gamut of negative emotions you will feel every time Ruffulo’s character is on screen – let’s just say that whether he is angry or not, you wouldn’t like him anyway.
Perhaps the best way to describe Mickey 17 is that it is a ‘Bong Joon-ho movie’, which really, should already be a good reason to watch this. At the very least, you won’t feel like someone just took the mickey out of you.
Summary:
Mickey'll take you by the heart as he takes you by the hand.
