“What’s it like to die? You must be used to it by now.”
Mickey 17 is the story of a man who dies—and lives again—over and over. Like director Bong Joon-ho’s earlier works (most notably Snowpiercer and Parasite), this is a blend of humor and horror. It touches on ideas of identity, of what it means to be human, and can easily be seen as political commentary.
In a desperate attempt to escape from a debt on earth, Mickey Barnes (Robert Pattinson) volunteers for an expedition to colonize a distant frozen planet. Many people are trying to escape earth. Mickey volunteers to be an “expendable”. That means, that he will be set up to die in various ways, then be reprinted and have his memory reinstalled. It’s not a fun job. The current Mickey is #17. That means he’s died, sometimes in pretty gruesome fashion, sixteen times already.
The expedition is led by Kenneth Marshall (Mark Ruffalo), a pompous, fatuous, egotistical former congressman (who lost the last two elections), and his wife, Ylfa (Toni Collette). Marshall views himself as a savior of mankind. He even puts a religious patina on the expedition, but we can tell it’s all about self-aggrandizement.
After Mickey 17 is assumed dead once again, a new Mickey is printed. However, 17 is rescued by the planet’s indigenous lifeform—a cute (ish) cross between a Dune sandworm and a giant wood louse. The problem is that “multiples” are strictly forbidden. If they are discovered, both will have to be killed and not reprinted. Mickey’s girlfriend Nasha (Naomi Ackie), is trying to keep them both safe, but of course they are discovered and Marshall plans to use them to further his world-conquering agenda. It will take 17 and 18 working together to save the expedition in the ensuing face-off between Marshall and the indigenous inhabitants (whom Marshall refers to as “aliens”.)
There are many things we can think about with this film. Let’s start with the idea of an “expendable”. Bong’s other films all have a class of people who are seen as of lesser value than the rest of society. Mickey (in all his iterations) exists to die. He is sent outside the spacecraft to see how long before the radiation kills him. He is first out on the new planet to see if there is a killer virus. (There is, and it takes him dying a few times to come up with a vaccine.) In Mickey’s case, it may seem like it doesn’t matter, since he’ll be “resurrected”. But does that make him sub-human to be forced to suffer so many indignities?
There is also a bit of commentary of colonialism and the current political atmosphere. I’m sure that such leaders are common throughout the world but, as a US resident, I have little trouble seeing parallels to our current president.
But what I really want us to think about (especially since Screenfish is a faith-based site) is reflected in a piece of publicity that says “He’s dying to save mankind.” I am always happy to find a new Christ-figure in films. Mickey is not one. The death/rebirth motif may suggest a connection with the death and resurrection of Jesus, but Mickey is really more a victim than a savior. (Although he does save people in various ways.) Where he comes up lacking in this typology is that he has no message or even an ethic that serve to give meaning.
That said, Christ-figure or not, Mickey 17 takes us on an entertaining, if sometimes horrific, ride in line with Bong’s previous tales. They always give us a new insight in what it means to not only be human, but to be humanity.
Mickey 17 is in wide release.
Photos courtesy of Warner Brothers.
