Why does cinema need satire? Because sometimes we need to be reminded that society is broken. It allows us to question the way things are, how they got there, and gives us hope that somewhere along the way, reels of celluloid will allow us to see ourselves, and help us learn to fix our flaws down the line. This is something that director Bong Joon Ho does masterfully. We’ve seen this in Snowpiercer, Okja, Best Picture winner Parasite, and now, Mickey 17.

It’s not an exaggeration to say that Bong’s filmography has landed him squarely on the list of the best filmmakers of our time. He certainly has a Best Director Oscar to back this claim up. And it’s no secret why. His style, and the way he sees our world, combined with his acerbic wit and boundless imagination have resulted in absolute masterpieces in modern filmmaking. His victories at the 2020 Academy Awards even made history, with Parasite becoming the first non-English film to win Best Picture (rightfully so and about damn time).

So it comes as no surprise at all that expectations were high for his follow up, Mickey 17. And while the movie doesn’t quite hit the heights of some of his greatest works, Bong’s latest satire still fits in quite perfectly among the pantheon of his offbeat and brilliant cinematic achievements. Like Snowpiercer and Parasite before it, it tackles class warfare. Like Okja, it explores an imaginative world and a vision of a darker future, but also themes about respect for all life. However, Bong revisits these themes while also blending them with themes about colonization and the consequences of blind fanaticism for elected leaders. The result is weird, wacky, but also quite rewarding and often hilarious.

Mickey 17, adapted from the novel Mickey7 by Edward Ashton, follows Robert Pattinson’s Mickey, an “expendable” living on the newly established human colony of Niflheim. Mickey’s role as an expendable allows him to conduct lethal jobs no one else can, resulting in his numerous demises, only to have his body and mind cloned/reprinted over and over again shortly after dying. Things get a bit dicey once Mickey’s 18th clone encounters his 17th clone after 17 inadvertently survives one of his lethal missions. This ultimately leads to a larger discovery about Niflheim and the corruption stemming from leaders in charge of the human colony, that prompts both clones to spring into action to seek changes for the betterment of its citizens.

Bong’s approach to satire is never meant to be subtle. He tackles society’s issues with a sledgehammer head on, establishing and cementing his status as one of the boldest filmmakers of our time. What he does in Mickey 17 is no exception. This is first and foremost a commentary on the dangers of colonization, and how the arrogant sense of human entitlement starts with the corruption and cowardice stemming from unqualified leaders and their cult-like hunger for adoration and power.

Furthermore, the film showcases how this entitlement and the obsession for power further results in a complete lack of empathy towards living beings, and the tendency to seize control through scapegoating. In this case, Mark Ruffalo’s Kenneth Marshall, the charismatic, yet dim-witted and arrogant leader of the colony, represents that corruption. Ruffalo’s terrific performance, evocative of the one he gave for his Oscar-nominated role in Poor Things, combined with Bong’s take on the character proves to be more relevant today, when seen as a biting commentary of the dangers for Trump-era America.

With a character like Kenneth Marshall, we see a hot tempered, elitist idiot leader, exploiting the desperation of his impoverished people to con his way to the top. The character goes further to secure his power by creating an enemy out of the alien species on Niflheim, calling them dangerous and building up an irrational fear of them among the humans within his colony. This is a leader willing to put innocent lives at risk, who possesses zero compassion and a reckless disregard for anyone else’s safety or health, solely to benefit his own status and well-being.

In short, Kenneth Marshall is Bong’s take on Donald Trump and the hundreds of leaders to come before him, making Mickey 17 a sharp take on the world we’re seeing today. It hits home incredibly hard, but has a necessary relevance that we must pay attention to urgently.

From the world-building to the craftsmanship on display here, Bong’s film fully immerses you into his perfectly dystopian vision of the future. The human colony on Niflheim is dark, dirty, and uncaring. And while the planet itself is cold and frigid, the brightness of the sky and purity of the snow emphasizes the contrast between the cruel human world and the innocence of the planet itself, and how the conflict and chaos the human colony brings ultimately pollutes the untainted nature of the planet.

In addition to the allegories, the movie is also just an insane blast! From the very start, you know Bong is going to do what he does best, and bring you a fast-paced adventure teeming with a sense of chaos that just builds and builds as the film progresses. Much of this stems from the incredible go-for-broke dual performance from Pattinson.

Putting on a Buscemi-inspired voice as Mickey 17, Pattinson paints the portrait of a character that’s been incredibly broken by the cruel world’s impact on him; so much so that he unwittingly volunteers for a job that will kill him over and over. It’s a terrific sad-sack performance that allows us to root for him as the underdog hero for the film. It’s also incredibly funny watching him get more and more numb to the idea of death as his character continues his terrible job day to day.

However, even more impressive is the completely different performance he gives as Mickey 18. With his performance as 18, he infuses the character with a much more wild-eyed blood lust that makes him dangerous and unpredictable. There’s a greater confidence and anger to this performance than what we see with 17, which perfectly encapsulates the complimentary natures of the characters.

The traits lacking in one are present in surplus within the other, to a fault, which is something Pattinson understands, allowing him to give two wildly different committed performances and distinctly memorable characters. However the characters end up helping one another grow, subtly adapting the traits they see present in one another into their respective selves. As such, Pattinson absolutely carries this movie, proving his worth as a leading man.

Apart from Pattinson and Ruffalo’s terrific performances, the rest of the cast is incredibly solid. Steven Yeun goes against type, playing a very weaselly, slimy character with Timo. He really gets you to hate him, which is a testament to how good he is as a performer, since Yeun is almost impossible to hate. Toni Collette is, of course, solid, giving a sinister performance as Ruffalo’s conniving wife. There’s a scene at the end where she is particularly creepy. Naomi Ackie is terrific as Nasha.

Ackie’s empathetic, yet strong character and performance serve as a conscience figure for Mickeys 17 and 18. She’s a character that is determined to make the future better, and is willing to fight for this change. However she’s also tender and actually caring. Ackie knows how to give both a soft and strong performance, allowing her to be warm when needed but tough when she has to be. As such, she serves as the true heart of the film. I’ll say she doesn’t have too much of an arc, acting more as a motivator for the Mickeys to grow.

The plotting, much like other Bong films, starts crazy and gets even crazier. Chaos escalates and builds as the situation between the two Mickeys ends up spiraling out of either’s control. However, as the situation unravels the truths about Niflheim, Bong builds the conflict and insanity up even more, escalating things beyond just the situation with the two Mickeys. It’s especially sparked by Mickey 18’s desire for vengeance, and in typical Bong fashion, that acts as a catalyst for deeper and larger conflicts, as if following a bullet’s trajectory from the barrel of a gun.

Tonally, this movie continues to emphasize Bong’s strengths as a darkly comedic filmmaker. While going a bit more broad than a film like Parasite, Mickey 17 fits side-by-side with Okja. The characters are over the top and the situations are approached with a sense of slapstick — particularly Mickey’s various death scenes. The outlandish nature reminded me of classics like Dr. Strangelove, which is apt when you consider it’s got an actor carrying the film with a dual role, and the often hilarious satirical depiction of the broken nature of human politics and the repercussions thereof.

For audiences expecting something subtle and somber along the lines of Parasite, Mickey 17 won’t be that movie. It’s definitely not as powerful or pensive a film as Parasite, and I don’t necessarily see this one winning Best Picture. However, like all Bong’s films, it’s still smart, funny, and brimming with his signature weirdness. In other words, much like fellow auteurs Quentin Tarantino, Guillermo Del Toro, or Edgar Wright, no one can make a Bong Joon Ho movie except Bong Joon Ho. You explicitly know a Bong movie when you see it: sharp screenplay, grimy future, insane characters, biting unapologetic commentary, blood.

However, unlike Bong’s usual films, you can see the $100M+ budget on display here. Mickey 17 boasts a lot more refined CG and elaborate creature designs than we’re used to seeing from the director. It definitely gives the film a larger feel and scale than we’ve ever seen from the filmmaker, making it, frankly, his most epic film to date. The production design is astonishing, with devices and sets that feel incredibly futuristic, but never clean or positive. The sets are worn down and everything we see feels oddly dangerous, which is the point. All of this emphasizes the fact that, thankfully the larger budget doesn’t impact the film’s feel as a Bong movie.

Cinematography for the film comes from Okja alumnist and two-time Oscar nominee, Darius Khondji. While the score comes from frequent Bong collaborator, Jung Jae-il, who also worked on Okja and Parasite. With so many collaborators from Okja, it’s no wonder the film feels a lot closer to that than previous Bong films. However, that’s not a bad thing. Both Khondji and Jung enhance the dystopian look and sounds of Mickey 17, and do a great job helping Bong establish the unique, chaotic tone.

Overall, much like Bong’s films, I anticipate this one to be potentially divisive. It’s chaotic and weird, and unapologetically defiant, which does make it niche. However, also much like Bong’s films, it has a unique vision, brilliant style, strong themes, and above all, is a good movie. The bigger budget just means he’s able to put more into bringing this vision to life, and emphasizing those themes to a greater degree; which is perfect because they’re themes we need to pay attention to all the more now. And thanks to wonderful performances, especially by a commanding Pattinson, I can see this movie, like the rest of his filmography, being embraced by cinephiles all over.

While not necessarily as tight or impactful a film as some of his best, such as Parasite or Snowpiercer, Mickey 17 is still mind blowing, hilarious, and off-beat in all the best ways possible. In other words, Director Bong does it again!

Overall Score: B+