Bong Joon-ho’s ‘Mickey 17’ Screens, Reaction is Flat-Out Rave!

Those lucky enough to have attended a test screening of Bong Joon-ho’s “Mickey 17” last night supposedly got quite the experience.

Here’s the one reaction I could muster up:

Hey, I attended the Mickey 17 screening last night and I thought it was fantastic. Perfectly conveys the mood and directorial ticks of all his previous films; it’s funny but also cleverly political and though action and adventure take a back seat it’s always doing something sharp and thrilling. Robert Pattinson is wonderfully unhinged in twin roles, very reminiscent of the performances in Fight Club, Mark Ruffalo is delivering a very Trump-ian performance that akin to Tilda Swinton in Snowpiercer and if that’s not enough Toni Colette is just as evil and always in his ear. The production is stunning, big sets and practical effects with very minimal CGI work and the cinematography here is like super close to so much of David Finchers work, so stunning and very much a likely contender for a nomination. It was quite an experience. The introducer emphasized how early it was in the process with very minimally done but 75% was pretty much polished and ready to go with just a score and sound design missing. So much of it was clearly practical.

I’m quite happy that this one won’t a total CGI bonanza and that practical effects were used.

A teaser for “Mickey 17” was released earlier this year and, in the process, was the announcement that it would get released on March 29th, 2024.

However, Jeff Sneider seems to be of the belief that Warner will change the date. Right now, ‘Mickey’ is set to be released on the same day as “Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse.” I agree with Sneider, the date will change.

I can see Warner pushing it back to late May, with a big splashy premiere at the Cannes Film Festival. Bong’s last film (“Parasite”) won the Palme d’Or. Back in late February, Cannes boss Thierry Fremaux hosted a masterclass with Bong and amusingly told him not to edit the film too quickly so that it can be ready for Cannes 2024.

“Mickey 17” stars Robert Pattinson and is an adaptation of Edward Ashton’s recently published novel. Naomi Ackie, Steven Yeun, Toni Collette and Mark Ruffalo also co-star.

The film centers on an “expendable,” who is a disposable employee on a human expedition sent to colonize an ice world. After one iteration dies, a new body is regenerated with most of his memories intact.

The South Korean auteur is know as the filmmaker behind critically-acclaimed films such as “Parasite,”“Snowpiercer,” “Mother” “The Host” and “Memories of Murder.”