Verdict
Summary
A great concept and a knockout performance by Robert Pattinson is balanced with an overlong script that seems to lose itself along the way.
Plot: Mickey Barnes (Robert Pattinson) signs up to be an “expendable” (meaning he is re-cloned over and over again after death) on an expedition to a new world to escape a vicious loan shark on Earth
Review: I haven’t seen Parasite, though I was a fan of Bong Joon-ho’s film Snowpiercer, so I thought I would give this one a go. Plus, I keep wanting to give Robert Pattinson a chance, even though I wasn’t a fan of Twilight, The Batman or Tenet. Go figure. Hey, at least I liked Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire!
Mickey 17 has a lot of potential as a movie. The concept is terrific and suggests a lot of interesting themes, including how the politically powerful feel about those “beneath” them or about the fear most of us have about death…there’s really a lot this movie could have done. It does touch on some of it. However, about three-quarters through, it stops being interesting and decides to just be about an evil politician who wants to kill what he doesn’t understand. It feels like this was pretty low-hanging fruit and underwhelming, considering how unique and fun the movie had been up to that point.
The movie is far too long, which is part of the problem. One hundred thirty-seven minutes to end up at that conclusion is unnecessary. The film moves briskly, but when it’s apparent that it’s just going to be a bad guy who will kill a bunch of ugly but well-meaning aliens, it seems to move through molasses. The movie starts to feel longer and longer. By the time we got to an end (which included an entirely inconsequential weird dream sequence), I was ready to call it a day. If the flick had done something different, I may have felt differently, but alas, it did not.
There are also just little things that irritate me. For example, Toni Collette, who plays the villain’s wife, is delivering a line, and she corrects herself from “mankind” to “humankind.” Okay, I get it, saying mankind is sexist. But why do this in the movie? Why not just say humankind? Why have her correct herself? It was a bizarre and unnecessary moment that completely took me out of the movie. By the end, I wondered if this was another statement movie on the political situation in America. The filmmakers say no, but it just feels too…on the nose and that feeling, along with Collette’s weird line choice, just frigging irritated me.
On the plus side, Robert Pattinson is excellent in this film. He plays multiple characters in the movie (after all, he is cloned continuously), and the different characters feel very real. He can somehow pull off a wimpy character who still has an inner strength and morality that makes you root for him. At the same time, he can play a role where the character seems to lack empathy and yet, still be noble. He’s fantastic. The rest of the cast is okay. Mark Ruffalo is suitably sleazy as the politician villain but felt one-note after a while. Toni Collette does her best but feels the same. Steven Yuen is in this for no apparent reason. Naomi Ackie, as the love interest, surprised me by having more depth and heroism than I initially thought. It’s a mixed bag, but Pattinson carries the movie.
As for the visual effects, they’re okay. The creature design was interesting, and I thought they did a good job of making them feel real. They’re imbued with personality, and despite their grotesqueness, I felt sorry for them, which was the point. There were some dark scenes I didn’t like, but overall, everything felt authentic. The score, like most movies these days, was entirely forgettable.
The movie had a black comedy vibe to it, and to be honest, I would have preferred a more serious tone. The subject matter deserved it, and the humour wasn’t that great. It wasn’t bad or forced; it just wasn’t good enough to warrant the decision to have it in there.
Overall, I still recommend checking out this movie. The concept is neat enough that most people would enjoy it, and Robert Pattinson’s turn as Mickey is entertaining and carries the film. I wish they had made better decisions in where the story went, the overall tone, and the length. I feel that more focus, instead of trying to shoehorn many ideas in, would have served the movie better.