film evaluate
MICKEY 17
Operating time: 139 minutes. Rated R (violent content material, language all through, sexual content material and drug materials).
In theaters.
Don’t come to “Mickey 17” on the lookout for “Parasite 2.”
Director Bong Joon-ho’s first movie since his good thriller gained Finest Image in 2020 has way more in frequent along with his science-fiction catalog than that cinematic page-turner.
An excessive amount of, actually. Regular-as-she-goes “Mickey,” which is in English, comes off as an excessively wacky retread of “Snowpiercer” (which it might probably’t contact) and “Okja.”
It’s removed from horrible and a pleasure to take a look at. However, maybe inevitably, after such a raging success, Bong’s newest film is a disappointment.
The acquainted satire hangs on an amazing premise, although: a futuristic society that depends upon sacrificial clones.
That warped thought is a becoming canvas for Bong’s normal themes and messages — class disparity, capitalism, environmentalism — solely they’re held along with bubblegum. Large in scope, this fairly lengthy sit overindulges and underwhelms.
The titular duplicate is performed by Robert Pattinson, who entertainingly acts as if he was let loose of a straitjacket seconds earlier than Bong yelled, “Action!” He’s by no means lower than unhinged.
Admittedly, I can’t look away from former Hollywood franchise idols making bonkers profession selections. See: Daniel Radcliffe taking part in a farting corpse in “Swiss Army Man” and Elijah Wooden in … every part.
That is a kind of curveballs from the adventurous star of “Twilight.” Generally, he does “The Batman,” and generally he does “The Lighthouse.”
With a squeaky voice and the frightened face of a child fowl, Pattinson performs Mickey, an “expendable” who’s on a futuristic area journey to settle an ice planet known as Niflheim. A dumb identify. Meaning he’s just about a human lab rat with emotions.
Each time Mickey dies throughout an experiment on a harmful mission, the scientists merely reprint him and add his reminiscences to the brand new physique. They’ve burned by 17 Mickeys to date.
It’s a traumatic routine. Everyone always pesters poor Mickey with questions alongside the strains of, “What is it like to die?”
Like many motion pictures about sentient robots, that brings up ethical and moral questions. Is he an individual? Does he have rights? Spoiler alert: The reply isn’t “no.”
Nonetheless, the set-up is a tasty problem for an actor, and Pattinson is greater than capable of play a number of clones, generally in the identical scene, who look precisely the identical however are every a bit totally different.
Simply as his brogue was completely unrecognizable as a chain-smoking fowl within the animated flick “The Boy and the Heron,” he utterly transforms his mannerisms for the Mickeys. He’s nothing if not dedicated. He in all probability must be dedicated.
And Pattinson’s leagues higher than Mark Ruffalo, who ridiculously performs a power-lusting politician who needs to determine “a planet of purity,” and Toni Collette as his aloof spouse Ylfa, who’s stupidly obsessive about dinner sauces.
The viewers’ sighs get louder with each entrance.
The place “Mickey 17” most manifestly fails is the comedy. So many jokes, particularly from that conniving pair, fall flat as they ship up the ruling class’ clueless extra.
Steven Yeun and Naomi Ackie are additionally campy, as Mickey’s pal and girlfriend, and, due to this fact, are by no means fairly plausible. However they’re nowhere close to as obnoxious as Ruffalo and Collette.
Why did I get the sense of “Okja” vu? The professional-environment plea comes within the type of Niflheim’s (nonetheless a foolish identify) native inhabitants — big armadillo-like creatures that blanket the world. Mickey has an inexplicably shut connection to the animals; the politicians clearly would favor to kill or eat them.
It’s “The Trouble with Tribbles” episode of “Star Trek” meets “Avatar.” And a mediocre rehash of the best hits of Bong Joon-ho.
