Mickey 17: If Colonization Had a Good Ending
This past weekend me and my cousins were gardening and decided to go see Bong Joon-ho’s highly anticipated film Mickey 17. This film is his latest since Parasite, which is one of the most critically acclaimed films of all time, 7th on Letterboxd’s Most Watched list with an average rating of 4.5/5 stars, and a cultural juggernaut for the past five years. Bong Joon-ho’s next film has been awaited by many cinephiles around the world with high anticipation, myself included. In my personal opinion, Mickey 17 did not disappoint. As someone who doesn’t commonly like sci-fi, I was a little skeptical going in. I hoped that it would be good, but I just didn’t know if I would like it due to my expectations for its genre. Mickey 17 was able to utilize sci-fi as a way to make social commentary regarding current and past political climates. This is a core feature to the film as the plot revolves around colonization, race, and socio-economic standing, due to the exploration of who has power and who doesn’t.
Our main character, Mickey (Robert Pattinson), decides to sign up to join Kenneth Marshall’s (Mark Ruffalo) space colonization mission as an “expendable” in order to escape a mafia boss who he can’t pay back. Essentially, an expendable is someone who has their essence copied in order to produce, or print, more of them in case of death. This sets up the class structure in the ship. At the very top, we have Marshall and his wife, then his close council, then the scientists, then his supporters who “look right” according to him, then the other workers on the ship (aka the BIPOC workers), and expendables at the bottom. We know this structure is in place because of one scene in the film where Marshall calls Mickey and Kai into his quarters for dinner and tells Kai that she should become the picture of the new nation and begin reproducing with Mickey because they both “look right.” While from the beginning it’s clear that Kenneth Marshall is a dictator, this line makes it obvious that he is supposed to be a spoof of Hitler, showing the absurdity of dictatorship and the unwavering love of its supporters. Additionally, in this scene and the following, it’s made clear that Kai is uncomfortable with this through her “close friendship” (if you know what I mean) with a girl who had just died and then at the end when she is seen with another girl in a romantic sense. These scenes show the social pressures on queer people to conform to the ideal straightness that seems to be promoted by the dictatorship.
The theme of colonization is easy to read, as Kenneth Marshall is trying to exterminate the natural inhabitants of the planet they live on, calling them “Creepers” because he finds them strange and scary. This plays into race because it could be talked about in two ways in this film: the human race vs. the “Creepers” and race in terms of Black, white, Asian, Latino, etc. In either case, whatever the dictator is (which is white, heterosexual, top 1%, human) is the most “pure,” or “perfect,” a human could be. It’s also important to note that Marshall tries to get rid of the “Creepers” by gassing them, which draws yet another parallel between him and Hitler. Overall, the film breaks down what it means to be in a dictatorship.
While I did enjoy this film, I do think its social commentary could have been stronger in many aspects. I wish it had focused more on its BIPOC supporting roles of Nasha and Timo and why they decided to go on the ship or act the way they do to Mickey. I also wish there was more of a solution to the issues brought up in the film besides civil disobedience, because it seems like the film presents a lot of problems in our society today, especially with the recent election, but not a lot of solutions besides uplifting each other and disobeying civilly.
All this being said, I really enjoyed the film and gave it a 4.5/5 star rating on Letterboxd with a heart. Not everyone agrees with me on the fact that this film is good, as the average rating on Letterboxd sits at a staggering 3.7/5 stars, with many reviews along the lines of “Challengers, Trump, and Minecraft” (Letterboxd user Cayla Shipman), or “Lord forgive me for what I would do with 18 Robert Pattinsons” (Letterboxd user Newt), but it also leaves a bit of a sour taste in my mouth because it feels like people were expecting “Parasite 2: 2 hills 2 basements” and got the opposite film in tone, plot, and language. What doesn’t help is that Mickey 17 has only made around $19 million at the box office this past weekend ($53 million globally) with a budget of $118 million. This is a surprising box office flop, and I honestly think a major part of it is that ticket prices to go see a film in cinema are so expensive that a majority of people don’t think it’s worth it. My ticket would have cost $14 if I didn’t fill out surveys for free tickets at Cinemark, so I can see why this deters people from going to the cinema to see a film that isn't a group or family outing. But, that being said, I do urge you to go see Mickey 17 with friends because it’s a fun film to watch and discuss.
Follow me on Letterboxd (avianfruitss) and comment down below if you’d rather get freaky with Mickey 17 or 18!