Live. die. Repeat. I feel like I’ve heard that concept before, but yet there was a certain allure to having this simple concept taken by Bong Joon ho and morphed into something presumably staggeringly original. But is it? is Mickey 17 the kind of film that lives up to the hype of being from the director of Parasite and Snowpiercer?

Bong Joon Ho loves to tackle class warfare and put the haves against the have nots. this is a formula that he’s managed to throw into nearly every film of his, regardless of the context, even if most land in the science-fiction/horror realm. Snowpiercer is quite literally a tale of social rung climbing as the gang at the back of the train works their way toward the front, slowly seeing the increasing wealth of opportunities afforded to those closer to the front. Okja took aim at factory farming and the meat production industry, with the representation of the family behind the slaughtering of animals presented as sadistic and self righteous. And of course, parasite, which really doesn’t hide class warfare. it is front and center as the core of that film.

He also typically gets some truly wild performances from his actors playing the “haves” like Tilda Swinton, or Jake Gyllenhaal. Perhaps that’s part of the problem in Mickey 17, is that Bong’s vision for what that extreme privilege looks like is being translated into odd performances from Mark Ruffalo and Toni Collette, who are both exceptional actors, who seem utterly in a different film.

The idea that Mickey (Robert Pattinson) is so at the end of every choice that he would opt in to a program making him an expendable, where he dies and is brought back as a clone of himself, is a way of representing how disposable we believe people can be. And certainly, he is used as disposable, suffering several excruciating deaths before we ever get to mickey 17. Then we see what happens when two Mickey’s are alive at the same time, which has little to do with a class system, and more of a moral dilemma. But this quandary is really buried by the fact that Ruffalo’s grand plan involves likely trying to blast a seemingly friendly alien race off their own planet.

Basically, Mickey 17 is doing a lot. it isn’t as simple as “get to the front of the train” or “save Okja”, but rather a couple of ideas attempting to work in tandem. In an age where every film feels derivative of something else, or is openly a direct sequel to, or remake of, it is refreshing at least to see bong Joon Ho not rest on his laurels, and continue to push himself as an auteur, and ultimately a storyteller.

However,with so much going on, and several sub plots taking up space, mickey 17 feels like a cluttered ball of ideas that likely made sense to Bong in his dreams, but struggles to translate perfectly on screen. Even the fans of this would at least have to cede the idea that he has topped himself. If you are able to find deeper meaning in Mickey 17, it won’t be the same kind as his previous works.

Aside from Ruffalo and Collette, the cast does mostly fine work. Pattinson is the obvious stand out, as he manages to create two different and fully realized versions of the same person. Even though they are clones, and should be exactly the same, their life experiences have shaped them into some subtle new ways. They have different hopes and dreams, and struggle to work together. Because of the dual Mickey format, and the science fiction nature, i did really enjoy the audio description. However, i thought where it really soared was in the description of the aliens. These seem to be different from what we typically get and therefore as much description as we can get is appreciated.

Ultimately, I’m leaning positive, because i really did like Pattinson. I also thought the film had a nice score, and audio description, and a mostly strong supporting cast. plus, while it gets messy, I certainly wasn’t bored, and I appreciate bong Joon ho taking risks. We need to continue to support our best directors when they have original concepts, even if they don’t shoot 100% from the line.

Fresh: Final Grade: 6.6/10