I wanted to like it for basically everything going for it - premise, Pattinson, Bong, sci-fi, “original” film - but came out pretty much as bitter as I have ever after a film. I’m not one to do it, but I was close to walking out on it.
There are some touches of what the film could have been, some moments maybe. But on the whole it felt like a train wreck where I’d bet that people knew on set that it just wasn’t going to work.
At some point I noticed there was a good amount of yelling from the actors (I’m wondering if that’s just me) and can’t help but suspect it was the director or actors trying to find energy in scenes that were struggling. Or maybe that happened in the edit. Then there’s Ruffulo and Collette’s satirical characters that just didn’t land and felt dumb and amateur (along with Poor Things, I’m thinking Ruffulo is just not good and “original” film makers would do well to stay away)
All up, I think it’s embarrassingly bad, or “objectively” bad. No real depth, no coherence or pacing or well directed momentum, much of the comedy doesn’t land, characters and plot often feel like afterthoughts, and it got boring too.
I think this movie review (from a pleasantly non-hype yt channel) says it better than I can.
What’s funny is I think a lot of people want this to be good. For the sake of original, fun, quirky, satirical films (and honestly, me too). But are stuck confronting a film that’s only making that situation worse not better and which represents the risks that studios need to accept not the successes they don’t understand).
Am I off here? I was pleased to find the review I linked as it seemed to match my thoughts.
EDIT - epilogue
And on the point about the fate of films … I saw this in the cinema (somewhat in support of original films) and dragged a friend too.
It was expensive. There was bad behaviour in the cinema (people taking photos with flash of each other!). And the film was bad, IMO, in a way that I feel people should have been more honest about (like I said, I think people wanted this to be good). Plus my friend doesn’t trust my choice in movies any more.
It’s really put me off going to the cinemas TBH. I’ll see how I end up feeling over time, but I think this might have been the straw that broke my back on the whole cinema thing. In part, sadly, because I don’t get how the film was that bad.
It’s a silly sci-fi flick that scratched an itch for me on the day that I watched it. I did not read about the movie before I watched it and thus had zero expectations.
I hoped it would be better, but all in all I thought it was enjoyable
Yeah. I very much don’t agree with some changes they made, particularly in making Mickey 17 an outright idiot and having such strong personality differences between Mickeys, but it was okay.
The problem was it could have easily been great, at a time we really needed some great messaging.
Echoing others that this isn’t a horrible movie. I enjoyed the ride. If you want to watch a better version of this movie, maybe try Moon.
Interesting comparison. I think Mickey 17 is trying to be something different from Moon, with some overlapping themes. I’d say it’s more Starship Troopers and fifth element with moon-like themes.
They are definitely different movies. I find Starship Trooper and Fifth Element’s humor to be a bit more of their time. The best thing I can compare it to quality wise would be like some of the Netflix movies that have come out in the last few years.
Mickey 17 was a fun sci-fi movie. Best I’ve seen? Hell no. But it was a good time. Solid flick… This is an insanely critical take. You don’t even give any good reasons other than it was bad cause I said so. Hardly “objective.” Like god damn, people are fuckin impossible to please.
Objective was quoted to signal that it’s a loaded term.
I mentioned a number of other things besides not liking it and linked to a review that mirrored my thoughts well.
I like plenty of films (Bong’s included).
As for a summary of “reasons”, I’d say it was thin on meaning and loud and discombobulated in its direction, dialogue, pacing and plotting beyond my threshold of enjoyment or even tolerance.
It was a 6.5 that should have been an 8.
It’s a tragedy how expensive it was though. They’ll never give him this budget again.
It’s a tragedy how expensive it was though. They’ll never give him this budget again.
Yea this is partly why I posted, the “meta” story around the film is interesting (and sad) I think.
No
I agree with the others, I think this is a unusually negative take. However, the fact that you haven’t really explained your criticisms in any sort of detail makes it very difficult to determine whether you actually have a point or if you are the stereotypical 1 star rage reviewer on IMDB. I thought the film had its flaws, so I would be willing to hear more detailed reasoning from you.
I don’t think I’m a raging IMDb reviewer.
As I said in another comment:
As for a summary of “reasons”, I’d say it was thin on meaning and loud and discombobulated in its direction, dialogue, pacing and plotting beyond my threshold of enjoyment or even tolerance.
Beyond that, the review I linked captures my thoughts well.
In short I think it crossed a threshold for me that’s likely different for many (thus the mix of up and down votes here).
The only thing there I’d really agree with is the pacing, which is only an issue in the final third of the film. Your other complaints are sort of just about Bong Joon-ho’s style, most of his films are like that. I’m surprised you found them problematic considering he was one of the reasons why you went to see the film.
And to be honest I’m not really interested in watching someone else’s review of the film. If you want to discuss it then you should put the effort into articulating your thoughts here.
I don’t think it was as bad as you think. Overall it was okay. It felt like things happened the way they did because they had an ending they wanted to reach. I haven’t read the book but I probably will since books are almost always better.
My biggest problem is when 17 fell into the hole and was left for dead due to how injured he was. A bit later (maybe an hour max?) after he got pushed out of the hole, he was sprinting and flailing his arms at the truck that brought him back to base.
The acting and special effects were pretty good in my opinion. The directing was bad. The editing could have been much better. I understand that movies strive to be as close to the book as possible but some things just don’t work in both and should be removed.
I watched it and I liked it.
End of my review.
I haven’t seen the movie yet but enjoyed the books. They were fun and adventurous with some twists of having doppelgangers running around.
After just watching the electric state and being supremely disappointed at the direction they took, I’m not thrilled to be disappointed again with another movie messing up a good idea.
Yea that’s an interesting perspective (and obviously I’d recommend staying away from the film, I think it’d only frustrate you).
