Directed by: Bong Joon Ho
Distributed by: Warner Bros. Pictures
Written by Taylor Baker
35/100
One would think that a film built around the premise of a man being unceremoniously printed out after his horrific death repeatedly would make for a fun action comedy, or at least an interesting science fiction film. Unfortunately, “Mickey 17” somehow avoids being either of these things. Picking up the torches from both “Okja” and “Parasite,” Bong Joon Ho attempts to meld his animal rights themes into another moral narrative about those that have and those that have not. He fails to find something substantial to hold onto while letting a big budget and fun premise go to waste.
The lack of consequences in “Mickey 17” causes the film to falter and dissolve as it moves toward its conclusion. Rather than celebrating its narrative conceit of being first cousins with “Groundhog Day” or “Happy Death Day,” it hones in on the moral quandary of having two “prints” of the same person out at the same time. Mickey 17 and Mickey 18. While a handful of interesting moments pop up as a consequence in the bedroom and around the trash chutes, the film’s intrigue falls away as they move from a character who could die at any moment to two characters who seem destined to survive until our conclusion.
Is it fun to see Robert Pattinson try and throw himself down a trash chute into the lava? Sure. But unfinished storylines, poor execution of themes, and cartoonish villainy dialed up out of proportion to the stakes can’t be overridden by a few minutes of Pattinson fighting himself. It’s not that there isn’t a good movie to be made from this premise or with these resources. It’s that the meandering self-obsession of the film and Bong Joon Ho ignore the fertile opportunity to make something better.
“Mickey 17” Trailer
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