Mickey 17 Review: Robert Pattinson plays in an absurdly, anti-capitalist, trump-mocking masterpiece

On By Littum

As Hollywood Studios quickly kowtow to the Republican regime, there is a concern that there is a concern that Mickey 17Bong Joon-Ho’s Stark, yet strangely life-affirming anti-capitalist sci-fi, will be one of the last honest works of art to slip under the gates. If it turns out to be true, we should appreciate it all the more. The Korean Auteur, at the back of his 2020 best photo gain for Parasitehas taken $ 80 million. (£ 63 million world built to make us feel worthless?

Here, the idea of ​​a “usable”, in a story adapted by Bong from Edward Ashton’s novel from 2022 Mickey7Is the literal idea of ​​the capitalist worker: To escape his debtors, Mickey Barnes (Robert Pattinson) signs up to be a “useful” on a colony mission to planet Niflheim. When he dies, his body is simply reprinted – in the grotesque, appalling way to get an inkjet – and uploaded with his memories so he can work and die again. When we meet him, we have reached Mickey 17, 10 Mickey’s deeper than in Ashton’s book.

For those whose sole confidentiality with Bong’s work comes from Parasite. Mickey 17 is different, but tonal in chess – sore, cynical, violent, humanistic, absurdist, rooted in class policy. Yet it is more a direct continuation of some of his previous films that merged the futuristic utilitarian environments in Snowpiercer (2013) with the cosklable animal rights mascot of Okja (2017). Mentioned beings Here is the insectoid “creepers”, the indigenous population of Niflheim. They are large, hairy grubs with squishy belly that looks like packs of bread roller.

Mickey 17 meets them first after he tumbles into an ice cream. “Oh amazing, why not?” He sighs. Can they at least swallow him whole? And not chewing him bite by bite? This is Pattinson at his best and keeps his movie star Charisma hostage to pursue lovable strange in all kinds of nuances (see: Benny and Josh Safdies Good time or Robert Eggers The lighthouse). He is fully freed here and consistently finds the most unexpected and lovely ways to deliver a line, with an American accent that is the auditory equivalent of pushing a pair of glasses. After dizzling back to the colony ship, Mickey 17 is confronted with Mickey 18. He is now a double. He has been followed. If he dies it is.

One of the funniest jokes (though also extremely sad if you pause to think about it) is his character’s repeated resignation in the light of death. When a colleague reveals, has he been sent out on a space walk to test the effect of radiation? “Oh, ok.” When they realize he is still alive when they are throwing him in the oven only to shrug their shoulders and continue anyway? “Thanks.” When “creepers”, without explanation, choose not to eat him? “I’m still good meat!” Mickey is a hero for any person who is beaten down to the point that they no longer live but simply exist.

Mickey 17 is a sci-fi of the working class, of service corridors of production designer Fiona Crombie and matching jumpsuits by costume designer Catherine George. It is essentially bong’s acquisition Alien (1979) -A comedy about how Weyland-Yutani treats people like feed, only Xenomorph is far more friendly and interested in the solidarity of society. All of them at the top of the food chain are horrifying terrible yet, unfortunately for us, plausible. Mark Ruffalo acts as former congressman Kenneth Marshall with his tan, veneer and vulnerability to the exploitation of the religious right – yes, he is obvious Trump, but Ruffalo probably gives him peculiarities that he works both as a satire and a diabolic creation In his own right. The same can be said of Toni Collette’s sauce-studded Ylfa, Marshall’s wife.

Looking Double: Robert Pattinson and Robert Pattinson in Bong Joon-Ho 'Mickey 17'
Looking Double: Robert Pattinson and Robert Pattinson in Bong Joon-Ho ‘Mickey 17’ (Warner Bros?

Darius Khondji’s smart and dynamic kinematography pulls us straight into dirt with these figures. It ties us to them, including the closest, the movie has for a voice of hope, and a beautiful F-bomb-loaded on Det-Mickey’s girlfriend Nasha (Naomi Ackie, who boasts a winning laugh). For all the cruelty and buffooner that might surround his hero, Bong lets us into a revelation: what we really see is a man who teaches it is ok for him to be happy.

Dir: Bong Joon-Ho. Starring: Robert Pattinson, Naomi Ackie, Steven Yeun, Toni Collette, Mark Ruffalo. 15, 137 minutes.

‘Mickey 17’ is in cinemas from March 7