Mickey Barnes is cursed in a way that he will continuously die in grotesque and mundane ways again and again. And this portion of “Mickey 17” might be more enjoyable than Bong Joon Ho's follow-up film to his Oscar-winning “Parasite.”
In “Mickey 17,” which marks the third installment of his English features, Ho tries to tackle some of the same areas of concern as his previous two works, "Okja" and "Snowpiercer." The focus includes the widening economic gap, humanity’s perpetual suicide against Mother Nature, and rising autocracy. With a blend of audacious comedy and French elegance, the South Korean director has managed to make these concerns front-page news all over the globe.
Fans who enjoyed the film “Parasite” must be feeling let down by “Mickey 17.” In his work, he showcased breathtaking attention to detail, cinematic language mastery visible in “Parasite,” Blending rhythm and tension expertly. With Mickey 17 that same rhythm is absent; instead it is replaced with a careless meandering narrative style. During the midsection of the action-packed visual spectacle, I asked myself over and over, “What’s happening? How did we end up here?”
His outlandish performances are so unpredictable that they become captivating.
Bong Joon Ho's recently announced new projects include Pattision’s “Indie Movies” alongside other works such as his dark blockbusters “The Batman”. Aside from these films, Lee managed to carry himself well enough to sway into more charismatic roles which showed off his charm gently while exposing his humor at full depth as well.
In an orange igloo world thirty years from now, Pattison plays a character who’s 30 and a half in the absurd “Expendable”, prancing around in sadomasochistic plots. Ashton published his twisted Mickey17 tale back in 2022, and Bong's “Mickey 17” animated it. Micky aims to be something but gets played easily like the desperate sap he is. Toxic gasses filled air and death awaited at work all masked by gangster threats that made life on Earth seem like hell poised to leap on the unsuspecting meander disguised as cheers. A glimpse towards rot with sprinkles of violence serves acceptance drenched into sharp pacing condensate brilliance of dark humour Bong weaves with skilled deftness.
Through one cave escape clad in snow while dodging certain mortality cliffs stricken by tension, he suspensefully slinks away from sight until silent ostrich scarves unmask pond skimmers to hazardous level revelation where other stares have living impostors guiding towards this shackled globed conundrum.
It’s always nice to see Steven Yeun, who starred in ‘Okja,’ but his character lacks depth aside from simple selfishness and exploitation. While the technicians in the lab think that Mickey 17 is dead, they process a new version: Mickey 18. Once a new version initializes, the old one instantaneously reverts back. This poses an issue, as it violates government policy on duplicates. Thus, both of them need to find out whether or not—and how—they can coexist.
Mickey 17 is remarkably sociable while we encounter Mickey 18 rebuffing and acting vexed towards everyone. The fact that there would be some divergence in their traits is interesting, which allows Pattinson some leeway with voice and physicality. Asong as his sultry girlfriend remains a motivaiton, Nasha (Naomi Ackie), a character who starts off as a brash security officer but proves too greedy at times becomes unmasked. Meanwhile Nisha (Happening star Anamaria Bartolomei) passionately admires the gentler two versions of her partner.
Yet they live under Kenneth Marshall’s smooth control, who reigns like a dictator over everything—portrayed by a preening Mark Ruffalo sporting puffy hair.
His ridiculousness might elicit some mild chuckles, but the self-promotion and the quest for, um “biological greatness,” are rather transparent. His fans clad in red baseball caps have a catchphrase and full body pose to match. Together with Toni Collette as scheming wife Ylfa, these two increase the cartoonish cruelty of their roles, which is funny at first but gets grating quickly.
Though Pattison narrates explaining how this world works, things get too intricate when Mickey 18 arrives. Much of it still needs explaining courtesy of Darius Khondji’s cinematography which captures stunningly dystopian imagery alongside industrial gloom from Fiona Crombie's set design. Subplots include a coup and dragging on “creepers” some convoluted critters resembling grey-dyed suede armadillos that cross the line from ugly to cute.The animal element, like what we see in ‘Okja,’ turns aggressively blunt as it batters us over the head with immigration and colonization themes.