After delayed premiere dates, Mickey 17 has finally hit the theaters, and as the highly anticipated next film to come from the brilliant and chaotic mind of Oscar-winning Director Bong Joon-Ho, is it a bold step to the right direction?
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Based on the early reviews and audience reactions, Mickey 17 falls short of expectations set by its predecessor, Parasite. But perhaps setting the standard for Mickey 17 against the critically acclaimed Oscar winner is too steep a bar. After all, Parasite was able to sweep during the 92nd Academy Awards back in 2020. To say that Mickey 17 needs to be equal, or better, than the performance of Parasite is cruel, and counterproductive, to what the newest Bong Joon-Ho film attempts to become.
Mickey 17, while not as intensely well-received as Parasite, still manages to perform admirably and is a worthy addition to Bong Joon-Ho’s repertoire of films. At its core, the film is a logical next step of Director Bong’s quirkier, and chaotic, signature cinematography. Evidently, Mickey 17 borrows from several of Director Bong’s popular works and blends them into a genre-jumping mishmash sci-fi story. The portrayal of snow and themes of existential dread was clearly inspired by “Snowpiercer”, coincidentally also my favorite work of Director Bong. This time around, instead of the struggle to survive an apocalyptic wasteland on Earth, the story brings us to outer space on an alien planet, all the while still retaining the consistent theme of existentialism. Director Bong’s experience in putting blob creatures into his work from 2006’s The Host and 2017’s “Okja” was apparent in the design of the tardigrade croissant-looking aliens. The sense of familiarity is pleasing for long-time Bong Joon-Ho fans and demonstrates the evolution of the dDirector’s style and artistic preferences.
Social Commentary Lens
Several of Director Bong Joon-Ho’s famous films all have the connective tissue of adopting a social commentary theme. Snowpiercer was an examination of the failure of communism and a bleak look into social stratification, on the backdrop of humanity slowly losing its civility in the process. Parasite, set in the real world, is the more palatable yet equally potent critical examination of the socio-economic divide and the decisions people make based on differing lifestyles. Mickey 17 continues this trend, now looking into evangelical cult authoritarianism, colonization, and the ethics surrounding human life. The acting of Robert Pattinson as the titular Mickey and Mark Ruffalo as evangelical leader Kenneth Marshall portraying a satirical take on Trump was incredible to behold and was certainly able to hammer in the social commentary in this film.
If all the expected beats from Bong Joon-Ho are present in Mickey 17, why then did it fall short? Coming from Director Bong’s best works, Mickey 17’s themes and plot ideas were unfortunately not executed flawlessly enough to have a clear throughline from start to finish in comparison to his other works. Some critics regard Mickey 17 as intentionally chaotic and genre-less. However, there is a difference between beautiful chaos and messy, underdeveloped chaos, and Mickey 17 was leaning towards the latter. Many story plot lines were left inconclusive in service of genre shifts, plot twists, and comedy. Towards the end, you can walk away from Mickey 17 realizing that it was a film that is on the brink of perfection but fumbled one too many times on its execution and pacing.
Mickey 17 does not surpass Parasite or Snowpiercer, but it is nonetheless a solid addition to Director Bong Joon-Ho’s crazy list of sci-fi films. Unfortunately, it is also Director Bong’s entry that proves that having social commentary in film does not automatically equate to good cinema.
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