Movie Breakdown: Mickey 17

Pre-Screening Stance:

Mickey 17 looks like it’s going to be two-plus hours of Robert Pattinson getting to be a weird guy, and I support it. Though, let’s be real, my desire to watch this is also heavily aided by the fact that the film is Bong Joon Ho’s highly anticipated follow-up to Parasite, which came out an eternity ago (2019).

Post-Screening Ramble:

I liked Mickey 17, but I have to admit that I don’t really know how much I liked it after just my initial viewing. In a general sense, it plays about how I expected it would – writer/director Bong Joon Ho slings around some social commentary while Robert Pattinson channels all that he can into playing Mickey 17 & 18, a pair of the same but very different characters. I also found plenty to like in the film – in addition to Pattinson’s energetic work, there are some great performances, like Mark Ruffalo’s obnoxious Kenneth Marshall and Naomi Ackie’s tough-but-fun Nasha, and I laughed at the majority of the film’s many jokes. Where Parasite is just so clever, so finely crafted though, Mickey 17 is fairly blunt and feels kind of cobbled together. As I mentioned, I liked the film, so the loose conceptual vibe it carries doesn’t fully derail it, but I think I was expecting something far less messy from Joon Ho, especially after waiting six years post-Parasite. But who knows, maybe once this thing hit the editing room it didn’t quite work, so the fun stuff was kept and stitched together via (too much) narration by Mickey 17, and that was that. I suppose it works well enough as is, but I’m curious to see how it will play for me a second time and if it will hold up or fall apart.

Mickey 17 hits theaters tomorrow, March 7. I think it’s worth seeing, but I would put your expectations in check.

One Last Thought:

Between Mickey 17 and Blink Twice, Naomi Ackie has quickly become a favorite of mine. I’m excited to see what she does next.