After facing numerous push backs for its release, due to the SAG-AFTRA writers strike, Bong Joon-Ho’s highly anticipated film “Mickey 17” finally gained its theatrical release March 7.
Based on Ashton Edward’s novel of the same name, “Mickey 17” was a mild disappointment. I was really excited for this film, but after the anticipation built for months, my expectations were higher than the product.
The film follows Mickey Barnes as he becomes an expendable, someone who is cloned and then tested on over and over again for the betterment of society on a space expedition run by an eccentric political cult leader.
The movie itself was fine. The acting from Robert Pattinson as Mickey Barnes was impressive, as he managed to play multiple versions of the same person while making them feel different enough but still the same. Naomi Ackie and Mark Ruffalo’s performances were also high notes of the movie, with their characters providing great comic relief and tension to the slower parts of the film.
For a dystopian film, the commentary it was making on the politics of the real world was basic, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it was bad. Its main messages surrounded anti-conformity, anti-capitalism and anti-fascism. The story around those themes was bare bones, a clearly crazy dictator promises desperate people an escape from their awful lives then gains a mass of devoted followers who back him as he takes on a colonial mission to make his own perfect kingdom, a tale as old as time.
Though the film didn’t offer any new ideas or revolutionary standpoints in its political commentary, the commentary it did make is still important to take note of, especially in the current American political climate.
“Mickey 17” was just a good movie. It wasn’t super interesting or reinventive and I probably won’t think about it again after I finish writing this, but it was good. The characters were compelling and the plot was engaging enough to hold interest, and it will probably go down as a film that a lot of people like but nobody really loves. For me, it’s a 2.5/5 stars, so if you are interested in a dystopian film where Robert Pattinson shows off his inner freak while “Twilight” by Elliot Smith plays in the background, then this is the movie for you.
