Mickey Barnes (Pattinson) has found himself in the extraordinary circumstance of working for an employer who demands the ultimate commitment to the job… to die, for a living.
- Based on the novel Mickey7 by Edward Ashton.
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While I’m not a huge fan of Robert Pattinson (the sparkly vampire), his movies since his rise to fame in Twilight have been usually offbeat – at least in the trailers. Since I’d never checked one out, I decided to go with his latest, Mickey 17. Directed by Bong Joon Ho, who has gained acclaim for movies like Snowpiercer and Parasite, I figured I’d get to check out both what Pattinson had been up to and to see if I liked this director too. So would it be fascinating? Or is this one just artsy crap?
Robert Pattinson takes on a dual role in Mickey 17, and does a pretty good job. Unlike previous silly flicks like Double Impact, The Man in the Iron Mask or Twin Dragons, actors taking on dual roles in serious movies are all the rage right now, with films like Sinners and The Alto Knights. With this film, Pattinson isn’t exactly playing twins, he’s playing two copies of himself. He’s able to do a lot to make them differ from one another, with one’s kind of nasally voice works for the more timid one, while the others stronger voice fits well with his more rough attitude. He probably had fun playing both, and he makes them differ enough they each become their own unique character in the film – they just happen to have the same face.
The rest of the cast isn’t half bad either. Naomi Ackie is pretty good as the love interest/badass security; Steven Yeun is solid as the “best friend”, and Mark Ruffalo and Toni Collette each put on the smarmy act to deliver show-stealing performances. They both put on the smarmy charm, and become idiotic over-the-top caricatures that viewers will get a kick out of.
Based on a book by Edward Ashton, Mickey 17 has an interesting premise. On a spaceship taking a failed senator and a crew of regular folks to colonize a new planet, Mickey is an expendable. That is, every time he dies, he’s reprinted in what basically amounts to a 3D printer, and his memories restored. While some of it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense (how does he remember dying?), it sets up an interesting premise that viewers will want to stick around for.
Since he’s reprinted, his life doesn’t really mean anything to the scientists aboard, and so he becomes a guinea pig for them: a test subject that can tell them what hurts and why. Unfortunately for him, the reprinting process doesn’t actually make him less human, so he falls in love. And, when he fails to die, he returns to his quarters to find a new copy of himself – Mickey 18 – waiting for him. Suddenly, death is very real to him, as this time he knows that if he dies, the memories he is creating will be lost forever, and this new version will continue on without his experiences.
With obvious themes of slavery, the human soul and what it means to be alive are deep, Mickey 17 really isn’t. Instead, it’s a quirky light-hearted take on this simple guy who’s got in over his head and doesn’t really know where to go from here. When it works, it really works. When it doesn’t, it’s still weird enough – and plenty goofy enough – to keep viewers sticking around.
Is Mickey 17 a great movie? No. But it’s quirky enough viewers won’t mind that it isn’t.
