Mickey 17 info:
Director: Bong Joon Ho
Writer: Bong Joon Ho and Edward Ashton
Starring: Robert Pattinson, Steven Yeun, Mark Ruffalo, Toni Collette, and Naomi Ackie
Hello and welcome to another week here at 1guysmindlessmoviereviews.com. Spring is starting to peak its head out in my part of the world and I couldn’t be more happy about it. I can finally walk between my vehicle and house without freezing or walking through snow. But, it’s still only March, so I will take what I can get. Speaking of March, this month, there seem to be quite a few worthy movies to watch, including my pick this week, “Mickey 17”. So, I will embrace the colder weather by staying inside a warm movie theater.
There is a lot to discuss this week, so let’s get the spoiler warning out of the way now. After this paragraph, there will be major plot points discussed, so if you haven’t seen “Mickey 17” yet, then I would check out some other reviews here first, then come back and finish this one later.
Ok, let’s jump right into it. “Mickey 17” is the latest movie by Director Bong Joon Ho and it has been surrounded by loads of hype. His last project, “Parasite” from 2019 was very well received and won the Oscar for best picture at the 2020 Academy Awards. This was a very ambitious film and it was very well made, but I feel like it was slightly over-hyped. That doesn’t mean it was bad by any stretch, but I went into it thinking it was going to have more humor than it did. It was still a very strong movie and very entertaining, which is important.
When “Mickey 17” starts, we get a quick crash course on who Mickey Barnes (Pattinson) is and why he is where he is… which happens to be underneath a giant creature that will later be named a creeper. Through a series of flashbacks and narrator-driven dialogue, we learn that both he and a former business partner, Timo (Yeun) were on the run from some goons for not paying back some money that they borrowed and are now trying to join an expedition to another planet so they can get far away from their former financer.
During that process, Mickey signs up to be an expendable (without reading all the fine print) so he can guarantee himself a spot on the ship. Just as Timo weasels his way on as a pilot. This is when we also learn that every time he dies from testing something, they just print out a new one of him and upload his thoughts to it. So technically, it’s still the same Mickey mentally speaking. Up till now, I didn’t have a lot of experience with Robert Pattinson outside of Batman or Harry Potter, so this was a real treat to see him play the part of Mickey in so many different ways. The fact that each time a new Mickey was printed, they acted slightly different from the one before them and Pattinson played each one beautifully.
Amidst all the new Mickey printing, the duo in charge Kenneth Marshall (Ruffalo) and his wife Ylfa (Collette)…both with huge personalities… were forging ahead with their plans to colonize the new planet. They both constantly treated Mickey like crap and even tried to kill him on a few occasions. Through all the turmoil and deaths, there was one constant for Mickey and that was Nasha (Ackie). Whatever forces brought these two opposites together, they were inseparable and the first to break the no sexual activities law. She stuck by his side through every death.
The film really takes a turn when Mickey 17 doesn’t die and they print a new one anyway. So now we have both Mickey 17 and Mickey 18 both alive at the same time. Nasha is on board with it for her own fantasy reasons, but Kenneth is clearly not as he tries to have them both eliminated. When I talked about Pattinson playing multiple roles, this is where he truly shines… when he’s interacting with himself. He does such a great job that it’s easy to tell them apart (even before Kenneth burns 18’s cheek so he can).
The whole thing ends up in a climactic sequence where a huge number of creepers are circling the ship in hopes of getting back their two lost babies. Kenneth and Ylfa send out both Mickey 17 and 18 to deal with them before they end up flipping the script, communicating with the creatures, and getting them to make a deal. Honestly, that part was sort of weird, but it fit in with everything else that was going on, so it didn’t detract too much from the main plot points.
In the end, Mickey 18 sacrifices himself to take out Kenneth and all peace is restored. Mickey 17 even gets to live as they abolish the expendable program. This movie will be worth another watch when it gets released later this year. I’m sure that I missed a lot or a few things might have slipped by me. But my first impression (even after letting it marinate for a few days) is that it really needed more humor. I know that sounds odd, but the story was strong enough, but somehow felt like it was missing something and I think adding in some humor would have just done it perfectly. It’s another strong movie made by Bong Joon Ho and I give it a solid 7 out of 10.
That’s it for this week’s review. Have you had the chance to see “Mickey 17” yet? What are your thoughts? Do you think it needs more humor or did you like it how it was? Let me know your thoughts in the comments. Thanks and see you next week for another mindless movie review of some sort.
