The Gist
A young man signs himself up to the experimental ‘Expendables’ program in a bid to escape Earth and the money he owes there.
The Review
Take one of the most exciting directors of our time, Bong Joon Ho (Snowpiercer), and get him to work on a film with one of the most underrated actors of our time, Robert Pattinson (The Batman), and the result should be something special right?
Well sadly for Mickey 17 something goes array – and it is one simple ingredient that had it been included could have resulted in one of the films of the year.
Based on a novel by Edward Ashton Mickey 17 is set in a futuristic world where the down-to-Earth and simple Mickey (Pattinson) and his best friend Timo (Steven Yuen – Minari) suddenly find themselves owing money to some very dangerous men.
They decide the only way to escape with their lives is to take jobs on a space ship that is carrying people to a far-off planet named Nilfheim to colonise it. It sounds like a good plan and while Timo lands a good job as a pilot Mickey finds himself entering the Expendable program. Basically what that means is that he is sent to do all the dangerous jobs and experiments and when he dies he is re-printed out with a new body using a scientific breakthrough that has been banned on Earth.
Even though it is a harsh living Mickey focuses on his role on the ship while also starting a relationship with one of the security team, Nasha (Naomi Ackie – Blink Twice). However things start to go wrong when it is revealed that mysterious creatures called Creepers live on the planet, Mickey draws the attention of crazy leader Kenneth Marshall (Mark Ruffalo – The Avengers) and his equally mad wife, Ylfa (Toni Collette – Hereditary) to himself and he suddenly finds himself in an unwanted love triangle with Kai Katz (Anamaria Vartolomei – Medusa). Then just to make things even worse a mistake finds the 17th version of Mickey alive at the same time as Mickey 18 – something that would result in them both being executed if the right people found out about it.
Yes, the recipe is all there for something special with this film but sadly Bong Joon Ho fails to capitalise on the films strengths and for some unknown reasons enhances the things that hold the film back.
The strengths of Mickey 17 are obvious. You have an actor who has proven himself time and time again with films like The Rover, Remember Me and The Batman putting in a brilliant performance in dual roles and you have a film that has a plot that tackles important themes including worker’s rights, morals in science and colonisation. But the power of all that is sadly dissipated by the fact that the film over-uses its comedy. Occasionally it works but then over-uses it especially with the Kenneth Marshall character. Marshall is a dangerous idiot – that is established early on – the constant comedy push of his character is unnecessary and becomes tiresome.
Perhaps the biggest issue with Mickey 17 is its lack of characterisation though. Characters such as Nasha, Kai and Dorothy (Patsy Ferran – Tom & Jerry) are key to the film’s plot yet as an audience we practically learn nothing about them. Yes, we see some characters traits play out but what makes them tick – why have they even embarked on this life-changing journey – is never properly explored in the film and the result is you have some one dimensional characters that are difficult for the audience to feel any empathy for.
There are two things that manage to save Mickey 17 though. The performance of Robert Pattinson and The Creepers storyline. Pattinson is solid throughout and by the end of the film he is carrying it on his own. This is one of those rare occasions where an actor is able to buck the trend of cinema and make a lazy script look good.
Then there are The Creepers. As the screenplay itself seems to forget about characters like Timo and Kai these little creatures come to the fore and somehow make themselves so interesting that some audience members will actually be barracking for them to crush the unlikable human characters that litter this film.
The Verdict
Having said all that Mickey 17 is a watchable film – but that is largely due to the performance of Pattinson who is brilliant here. The screenplay itself seems to lose its way countless times as it focuses on trying to get a laugh rather than on the important themes that the film should be focussing on. Worth a look if you can over-look the one-dimensional characters that lack the interest that the film so badly needs.
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