Mickey 17

Mickey 17 is no Parasite and, while it falls in the science-fiction category, it's no Snowpiercer either. South Korean director Bong Joon Ho's latest film still dabbles with exploration of class and how removed are the top 1%, but it has too many ideas mixed up for one clear picture.

Mickey 17 is a markedly original sci-fi satire that defies easy categorization—a $100m boisterous film that neither belongs to a franchise nor cares to start one. Much like its unlikely hero, in a sea of similarity, it's a sparky one-off that will appeal to anyone longing for the sort of sui generis romp a cinematic 'universe' could never allow itself to get away with.

Bong Joon Ho follows up the searing Parasite with a far sillier film that adds 10 Mickeys to Edward Ashton's novel Mickey7 and iterates upon the filmmaker's previous genre movies, combining the rundown, frozen, end-of-the-world aesthetic of Snowpiercer with the clownishness and critters of Okja. But, messy as it is, the filmmaking so energetically delivers its acidic pessimism that it's rarely unpleasant.

Pattinson does double duty in the now-dual role, with one Mickey much more violent and nasty than the other as the two fight for survival. It's his movie, and he saves it from Bong's tendencies to overstuff the proceedings. In an extremely physical, committed, even exhausting performance, Pattinson takes what could have been an unwieldy mess and makes it much less, well, expendable.