"Mickey 17" loses at box office, but is still a Bong Joon-ho hit

By Leonardo Salazar

Tejano Tribune Movie Critic

The prestigious writer and director Bong Joon-ho just premiered his new film “Mickey 17” starring Robert Pattinson. And although it is missing ticket sales, this was my greatest experience at the movie theatre so far this year.

I didn’t know too much about it, and I ended up loving it.

The movie tells the story of Mickey Barnes (Robert Pattinson), a man who signs up for a job to die and be genetically re-created again constantly (with the same body and same mind) for scientific tests. When he and a group of people travel to space to colonize an ice world named Niflheim, a problem occurred: people accidentally created another version of Mickey, when the last Mickey (which was Mickey 17) was still alive. And having two versions of the same person at the same time is illegal, so now Mickey 17 and Mickey 18 must determine out how to get out of this situation.

But that’s not all! There is another whole story about the spaceship leaders and also politicians Kenneth Marshall (Mark Ruffalo) and Toni Collette (Ylfa), who are married and represent a critique of fascism and the dangers of authoritarianism, but because this is a mash-up science-fiction and comedy, these two characters are pure satire and among the funniest things in the movie.

The film also critiques other stories in movies, novels, streaming series and Bong Joon-ho applies his own special talents in his own way, focusing on how humans are destroying the planet. Ruffalo’s Marshall wants to conquer the planet to make it all for humans, and by doing this, he wants to kill the Creepers, the indigenous creatures of Niflheim, calm and lovely creatures who mean no harm. Bong Joon-ho has touched this theme before in his other films, including “Okja” (2017).

Robert Pattison plays Mickey, a character who goes through repeated deaths for science in Bong Joon-ho's latest satirical cinematic offering.

Many people maintain this environmental commentary is cliché as there’s been other stories with a nature-destroying message, but I think what Bong Joon-ho did was great because cinema, when done well, is an effective medium of communication. Bad treatment that humans give to the planet will always be a big issue, so I think it’s important that filmmakers still convey this message for future generations.

Others say the film isn’t good or boring but are making the mistake of comparing ”Mickey 17” to “Parasite” (2019), a total masterpiece and one of the best movies ever made (no surprise it won Best Picture). This led to extremely high expectations for the next film. I think many people wanted another “Parasite” or another film about social classes, or maybe just another film as good as the last one. But the thing is that it is not “Parasite”, and that’s okay! “Mickey 17” is a different story, different characters, different tone, etc. I’m saying this because there were a lot of people who went to watch this, expecting to see another version of “Parasite,” and when that didn’t happen, they were disappointed, a complete shame because “Mickey 17” is simply amazing.

I think it is sad how bad this movie is doing at the box office. The studio behind the movie, Warner Bros., is expecting to lose nearly $75 million, a big shame because when I was in the theatre, I couldn’t stop thinking this story is so original. I don’t remember ever seeing a movie about people being genetically re-created for a mission and a total issue came out from that.

Not only that, it’s really entertaining and very funny. There is a lot of satire. Robert Pattinson’s Mickey 17 is just hilarious.

One last thing to mention is the beautiful use of the CGI (computer generated images). I can’t imagine how hard it was for the whole crew and actors to perfectly coordinate everything to put two Robert Pattinsons on the screen to the point where it looks like they made a clone of the actor instead of special effects made in a computer.

Take some free time this week and go watch “Mickey 17” in theatres instead of waiting for streaming. It is the type of movie that we need to support with ticket sales because it has substance, great quality, and of course, the amazing direction of Bong Joon-ho.

I give it 4.5 out of 5 stars.