Robert Pattinson stars as a so-called expendable in Bong Joon Ho's hotly anticipated follow-up to Parasite, facing off against perma-tanned megalomaniacs and croissant-shaped creatures.
The way things are going, even the most speculative sci-fi feels entirely plausible – take Edward Ashton’s ‘Mickey 7’ for example, in which the hapless Mickey Barnes effectively becomes a crash-test dummy for a shady space colonisation operation leading to his repeated death and revival through a ‘human printing’ programme. (If the Department of Work and Pensions hears about that, they might think it’s a canny way to cut unemployment.) It’s easy to understand what attracted Bong Joon Ho to the project, scouted by Warner Bros and Plan B after the roaring success of Parasite in 2019 which won the Palme d’Or, a quarter of Oscars including Best Picture, and made a $246.7 million return on investment at the box office. It’s the same mix of prescient sci-fi, zany humour and creature feature that he’s shown an affinity for across The Host, Snowpiercer and Okja – for his third English-language film, Director Bong returns to familiar territory, but with no less ambition or heart than he has shown throughout his career.
Along for the ride is Robert Pattinson, starring as Mickeys 1 through 18, and while it might seem insulting to say he was born to play a sweaty, nasal loser like Mickey, Pattinson himself – who has shown an affinity for underdogs and weirdos since breaking free from the shackles of teen idolatry – would probably take it as a compliment. With Mickey 17 and 18 taking centre stage, he delineates between the two roles with a masterful command of physicality and glorious lack of vanity. If Mickey 17 is the meek, hangdog iteration, 18 is semi-psychotic, instantly taking his predecessors’ place after he’s left for dead during one of his dangerous missions on the ice planet Niflheim’s frozen tundra. Not only must Mickey 17 contend with a megalomaniac employer (Mark Ruffalo) and his own sneaky best mate (Steven Yeun), but now a cooler version of him is trying to steal his girlfriend (Naomi Ackie) and kill his crewmates. It’s no wonder he’s feeling a bit perturbed.
His colleagues are more concerned by the mysterious creatures who inhabit Niflheim than Mickey’s malaise. The “creepers”, as they’re nicknamed, resemble a croissant crossed with a woodlouse, and despite Mickey’s protestations that they saved his life, are seen as a threat by colony leader Kenneth Marshall and a tasty snack by his odious, condiment-obsessed wife Ylfa (Toni Collette). If it all sounds a bit madcap, that’s because it is – Director Bong has always embraced the comedic in his filmmaking as much as devastatingly sharp social commentary.
While Mickey 17 isn’t quite as slick as Parasite in its execution and the film’s two plot lines don’t quite seamlessly coalesce, Pattinson’s typically committed and zany duel performance (along with Naomi Ackie’s delightful supporting turn as Nasha) make it sing all the same. Yes, Ruffalo and Collette’s overacting feels like a pale imitation of Tilda Swinton in Snowpiercer, but even so, it’s hard to not be endeared by Mickey 17’s rough edges, and after his monster success in 2019, it’s a relief that Director Bong is as funny (and fun!) as ever. This one’s for the die-hard Bong Hive – the ones who know Okja never got its due.
Published 24 Feb 2025
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Gross and heartwarming in equal measure.
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By Halim Kim
The serial killer case that inspired the South Korean director’s 2003 film finally appears to have been solved.
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