REVIEW: 'Mickey 17', One Of My Most Anticipated Movies Of The Year, Was A Bit Of A Disappointment

Mickey 17, known as an "expendable," goes on a dangerous journey to colonize an ice planet.

To preface this, I'm a big Bong Joon Ho guy. 'Parasite' is a perfect movie and every other Korean-language movie he has made has been incredible. So, when the news dropped that his first post-oscar movie would be a scifi pic starring Robert Pattinson, I could not have been more thrilled. However, this movie is just not what I hoped it would be. While this is all relative (this movie could easily be the best in a lesser director's filmography), It just doesn't have the same juice I expect out of Bong. 

As always, I'll break it down into a pro and con list for you. 

PROS: 

- The first two acts of the movie are great, specifically the first. 

- Robert Pattinson is having the time of his life and delivers a great performance. Funny, weird and pretty heartfelt in the right moments. 

- The rest of the cast is solid too but I cant help but wonder how some other actors might have eaten up the roles. 

- Visually, it looks awesome. Great sci fi look with cool practical sets and really solid CGI/creature design. 

- It's funny! Lots of solid laughs throughout both through the script and RPat just being a freak. 

CONS:

- The third act kinda fizzles out into a pretty boring ending. It's hard to say a lot more without spoiling but it wasn't up to his usual standard.  

- There are some points in this movie where I think a few people involved got lost in the sauce. Some speeches, imagery, acting where they were clearly trying to bring stuff to our reality which felt a bit hamfisted. 

Overall, it's a good movie that is worth seeing in theaters. But, for Bong's standards, it's a letdown. And it's lead me to a personal conclusion: I'd much rather Bong only make Korean-language movies. He is one of the best working directors right now but his 3 weakest movies are all English-language (Okja, Snowpiercer, Mickey 17). And this is easy for me to say as a nobody since hollywood studios pay more, give a bigger budget and supply a much larger talent-base of english-speaking actors. However, I'd rather see one more 'Memories of a Murder' than three more Mickey 17s.