#467: Kill 'Em All, Pt. 2 — Mickey 17

The Next Picture Show

Telegraph Road Productions

Tv & Film, Film Reviews, Film History

4.6 • 819 Ratings

🗓️ 25 March 2025

⏱️ 77 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Bong Joon Ho’s new MICKEY 17 takes a lot of big swings, from star Robert Pattinson’s vocal affectation to a comedic fixation on “sauce,” all of it in service of big, bold, arguably blunt satire. It all makes for a somewhat messy but highly discussable film, both on its own and in conversation with Paul Verhoeven’s STARSHIP TROOPERS, another big swing of a sci-fi satire that aims to entertain as it undermines propagandistic societies where leaders rule by catchphrase, where citizenship is conditional, and where working-class lives are expendable. We dive into all of that, plus space bugs that may not actually be bugs, then offer a Your Next Picture Show recommendation for another MICKEY 17 pairing contender, Duncan Jones’ MOON. Please share your thoughts about STARSHIP TROOPERS, MICKEY 17, or anything else in the world of film, by sending an email or voice memo to [email protected], or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730. Next pairing: Steven Soderbergh’s BLACK BAG and W.S. Van Dyke’s THE THIN MAN Chapters: Intro: 00:00:00-00:01:55 Mickey 17 discussion: 00:01:56-00:31:19 Mickey 17/Starship Troopers Connections: 00:31:20-1:07:03 Your Next Picture Show: 1:07:04-1:12:50 Next episode preview and goodbyes: 1:12:51-1:16:11 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	It's very difficult to keep the line between the past and the present.
0:05.1	You believe that someone out of the past can enter and take possession of a living being?
0:11.9	We may be true with the past, but the past is not through with us.
0:19.7	Welcome back to the next picture show, a movie the week podcast devoted to a classic film
0:24.3	and the way it shaped our thoughts on a recent release.
0:26.7	I'm Scott Tobias here again with Tasha Robinson and Keith Phipps.
0:30.4	In our last episode, we discussed Paul Verhoven's Starship Troopers, a sci-fi action satire about dumb humans going to war with spacebugs.
0:38.9	Now we have the great Korean director Bong Joon Ho following up his Oscar-winning parasite
0:43.5	with a Hollywood production about dumb humans going to war with spacebugs.
0:47.9	In Mickey 17, Robert Pattinson stars as Mickey Barnes, an affable dope on the run from
0:53.3	Lone Sh sharks after his
0:54.7	macaron business went belly up. In a desperate attempt to get off Earth, Mickey volunteers to be
1:00.2	an expendable on an expedition to colonize an ice planet. Expendables are basically disposable
1:06.0	humans who submit to dangerous and experimental jobs that often kill them, but in this future world,
1:11.7	a due body can be regenerated out of a copy machine with its memory still intact.
1:17.1	The title, Mickey 17, refers to the 17th iteration of Mickey, who is presumed dead after
1:22.8	falling into a crevasse and encountering native bug-like creatures referred to as creepers.
1:28.6	Zaniness ensues when this Mickey co-exist with the 18th Mickey, leading these duplicates to become
1:34.9	targets for mandated elimination. Meanwhile, the expedition's leader, Kenneth Marshall, played by
1:41.0	Mark Rufalo, wants the creepers wiped out so that he and his cult-like followers
1:45.6	can settle in their new home. We'll talk about it after the break.
1:54.7	Ready to launch your business? Get started with the commerce platform made for entrepreneurs.
	...

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