“Mickey 17” film criticism: Pattinson clone and beeping aliens

This film saves time: Usually Robert Pattinson fans would have to consume 18 films with their favorite star in order to achieve a comparable effect. Now it is enough if you look at this. Why is that? The title “Mickey 17” already provides a clear indication of this.

A space expendable

Six years after “Parasite”, Oscar winner Bong Joon Ho finally follows a new feature film for which he chose Edward Ashton's Scifi novel “Mickey7” as a template. The title -giving Mickey has chosen one of the hardest jobs that you can imagine in the future. The correct job title is actually expendable, although neither Sylvester Stallone nor one of his action friends have something to do with it.

Instead, these futuristic expendables travel on board a spaceship and have to make the way in the vastness of the universe of a group of colonists by carrying out dangerous exploration missions. The chances of survival are low in this industry, but luckily the clone technology has been perfected so far that a so-called bioprinter can throw new Mickey at any time, with the memories of the predecessors.

Number 18 vs. number 17

On the icy planet Niflheim, the 17th Mickey fell into a glacier column and is being dead kept, which is why copy number 18 is already printed out. As soon as 17 still appears alive because it was saved by Aliens, he is threatened with his destruction – as a discontinued model, he threatens the fall into a lavagrube, where you can collect recycled material in this way.

However, the Mickeyys, which exist at the same time, are only one of several problems, and so the question also arises as to how to meet the extraterrestrial forms of life: Are these “creepers” baptized mixed creatures from the belt animal and cockroach from the outset, or do they only become enemies through an unspoiled and arrogant human action?

Ruffalo and Collette as a bad couple

After the rather realistic “parasite”, Joon Ho is now returning to his preference for fantastic animal beings, which he already showed in “The Host” or “Okja”. At the same time, he combines this motif with strong social criticism, which is why “Mickey 17” looks like a “snow piercer” relocated to universe (there is enough snow and ice cream).

This is also about hierarchical power structures and mechanisms of oppression – regardless of whether on their own conspecifics or foreign creatures – which probably lead to a change in the relationship of rule. Mark Ruffalo plays a wannabe dictator with Trump-Vibes, who often roams the limits of the cartoon like in stupid arrogance, but at the same time represents a fatal threat. In the floating evil thoughts, a reserved acting Toni Collette is at his side as a wife.

Convertible Pattinson

Pattinson always looks the same as a Mickey, but can still show acting diversity, since the individual clones have different characteristics: number 17 is, for example, an introverted weakling, which allows everything to do with himself and also says “thank you” after each abuse, while a hot-blooded number 18 has revolutionary thoughts at any time.

“Mickey 17” acts as a dark scifi comedy as if Terry Gilliam had made a new film. The too strong thematic dependence on “snow piercer”, a somewhat cumbersome narrative structure and lengths in the middle part, Joon Ho does not quite show this time at the height of his championship. So you should rather take time for 18 separate Pattinson films.

3 ½ out of 5 over fire pits dangling baby aliens