MICKEY 17

****

Directed by Bong Joon Ho.

Starring Robert Pattinson, Mark Ruffalo, Steven Yuen, Naomi Ackie.

Science-Fiction, US, 133 minutes, Certificate 15.

Released in cinemas in the UK on March 7th by Warner Bros

There must be a moment after your film wins the top prize at the Oscars when you wonder what to do next. More of the same or double down on whatever's grabbed a hold of your creative urge and take the money and run? After the massive global success of PARASITE, writer and director Bong Joon Ho must have had his pick of studios eager to see if lightning could strike twice. Now, six years later we finally witness what he can get away with by taking over a hundred million dollars worth of Warner Bros money, a studio that has only proven itself to discard completed projects at the drop of a hat, only to unveil a film that carries all of his previous sensibilities in glorious and often weird fashion that just happens to be his most spectacular looking film yet.

Delayed from its original 2024 release after a viewing of Ho's final cut, of which he had total control over, it is easy to see why the corporate suits may have balked at what they had on their hands. An inter-planetary science-fiction epic starring Robert Pattinson, an actor who also marches to his own beat, in multiple roles must have sounded like a sure thing on paper. Who knows then how they initially reacted to this funny, offbeat character(s) study that also squeezes in condemnations of colonialism, capitalism, Trumpism amidst tonal shifts that come out of nowhere and weird accents. It may sound like a mess, but somehow, director Bong has pulled off the most interesting and entertaining sci-fi blockbuster since last year's DUNE PART TWO.

Pattinson plays Mickey Barnes, a meek figure who has fled a ravaged future Earth only through not reading his paperwork properly to become an "expendable." The worst job imaginable as it entails the most dangerous task on board and outside his spacecraft, made bearable through the possibility of being “reprinted” after each grisly death, only to go through the whole process once again, whether to test the effects of cosmic radiation or the atmosphere of the seemingly inhospitable planet that is soon to be colonised by the rest of Mickey's crew led by two time failed presidential nominee Kenneth Marshall, played in scenery chewing form by Mark Ruffalo. This right wing zealot, along with his adoring cult who wear red baseball caps, immediately seems familiar with his mix of nonsensical posturing, bluster, extreme views and interplanetary ambitions.

This mix of Trump and Musk may have been thought of as quite a comedic figure during the films production, but now with the two figures running Hell for leather with their disastrous policies the film has gained an all too prescient effect that gives it a still humourous, yet unsettling effect. For a major studio release to be examining such issues and commenting on them the way it does, feels all too rare. Although satirical, its takes on the gig economy and major corporations' ever expanding grip on human rights  seems at times like a revolutionary call to arms, albeit a very entertaining one.

Aiding all of this subversiveness is Robert Pattinson, an actor hellbent on playing against his leading man features. His meek characterisation, aided by a voice inspired by Steve Buscemi's nasal whine from FARGO, may take some time to get warmed to as at first it seems like an all too obvious, showy and unneeded choice. As the film settles into its scattered plot though, Pattinson channels Bong Joon Ho's voice expertly in whatever iteration he is playing, particularly the more irascible and impulsive Mickey 18, whose existence sets up a further plotline of how "multiples" are to be dealt with in this ruthless future,

More of a piece with his earlier works like OKJA and SNOWPIERCER than his last film, MICKEY 17 soon goes on to prove itself as funnier and more exciting than either, although the garrotte tight plotting and execution of PARASITE is still leagues ahead. Based on Edward Ashton's novel and touching on aspects that were raised in Duncan Jones' MOON, this is a film that feels and often looks like nothing else around right now. Perhaps doomed to wither in the shadow of its predecessor due to its broad madcap energy, the film will no doubt grow its own army of devoted fans as the years go by. Fans will be delighted to see that this is very much a Bong Joon Ho film down to its core, undiluted by its backing studio and the influence of the American dollar. However well it does, or does not do, with audiences this is a very entertaining film that seems to have been made and released against the odds, especially in its own unwieldy form that marks it out as one of the most rebellious and mischievous big budget features in many a year.

Iain MacLeod