The Latest: Mickey 17 & In the Lost Lands
Elliott reviews the latest flicks from Bong Joon-ho and Paul W.S. Anderson
We’re planning to have more film reviews for new releases on Even Better. This is “The Latest,” a space for reviews of new movies that will be dropping at least once a month. We’ll kick off with Mickey 17 and In the Lost Lands.
Mickey 17
Bong Joon-ho's cinema is one of movement. His films bring to mind specific memorable motions (the jumping kicks in Memories of Murder, the monster in The Host terrorizing the citizens, the perpetual moving train in Snowpiercer, the titular pig in Okja escaping its hunters, and the Kims panically scheming around the mansion in Parasite.) In all of these instances, the camera itself is on the prowl, tracking the action and magnifying its intensity. We've come to expect vitality from Bong's films.
So Mickey 17 may be throwing some people off. Bong's camera isn't stale, but it's certainly more relaxed. The story meanders and much of the film's runtime is paced at leisure. Perhaps unexpectedly, Mickey 17 is at its best at leisure. When it’s leaning into the comedy of the astounding Robert Pattinson double performance, it feels right at home. Anything involving Mickey 17 (and/or Mickey 18) and Nasha (a crackerjack turn from Naomi Ackie) works like gangbusters. These moments become scarce and then entirely abandoned when the movie decides it needs a purpose beyond dwelling in the peculiar relationship dynamics and Mickey's quietly existential and comedic ruminations on death. And when the movie heads toward a purpose, it begins to downturn. It's far better when refraining from being *about* something, but for better or worse (depending on the film), that's not in Bong's DNA. Mickey 17's strengths lie in its principal characters and contained world, not in the clumsy satire that we can easily connect to our world and the film's/our cartoonishly evil leaders.
That being said, I see people ascribing too much Trump/Musk likeness to Mark Ruffalo's failed politician/wannabe autocrat (a performance I struggle to get behind, though it's an improvement over his clownish Oscar-nominated turn in Poor Things — I need Ruffalo to go back to playing a normal dude journalist/detective/lawyer like I need oxygen). Ruffalo and Toni Collette are playing types that predate Trump's presidency by decades. They just aren’t compelling or comedically effective types.
But on these cartoonish evil leaders, Mickey 17 is actually somewhat of a cartoon. It's a comedy first and foremost and thrives when it’s a borderline hangout oddity. But when it tries to bite, the film has baby teeth. One cannot help but think of Starship Troopers in its third act, and Starship Troopers it is not. Like many films that come out later in a celebrated director's career, it'll be fascinating to follow Mickey 17's reputation. I'm feeling pretty square in the middle at the moment, but I certainly admire it. Not for its empty commentary, but for the leisurely pacing that leads up to it, far from Parasite's ceaseless momentum. I'm holding out hope Bong can make a full movie like that. Call me crazy, but I would kill to see his Downsizing.
In the Lost Lands
If you told me 5 years ago that I'd be more excited for a new Paul W.S. Anderson release than a new Bong Joon-ho, I'd be certain you accidentally dropped a "W.S." in place of a "Thomas." But plunging into W.S. Anderson's filmography these past few years has me fully in his cult, joining fellow vulgar auteurism believers as one of his staunch "actually, he's really good" disciples.
Anderson is a master world builder that creates dynamic and perilous digital settings for his characters to navigate and endure. Each setting contains its own unique feel as if they're distinct video game levels. He's the ideal man for game adaptations for his understanding of physics and love for quests. Anderson takes a break from video games to adapt a George R.R. Martin short story, but In the Lost Lands (pretty stupid title) fits neatly into his passion for maps and characters with world saving objectives.
Anderson's muse/wife Milla Jovovich plays the witch Gray Alys, who can't refuse anyone that seeks to have a wish granted. She's joined by the hunter Boyce (2023 Betters winner Dave Bautista, a welcome addition to the PWSA universe), in the lost lands to steal the power of a werewolf and grant it to a starved-for-love queen. It's a fairly dry tale on paper, but in typical PWSA style, the style is largely the substance. His signature backbreaking, rapid edits that defy traditional film grammar heighten the action to a full throttle strike on the senses. There are scenes where Gray Alys wields an illusion on both characters and the audience, locking us into a state of not knowing what's happening, but thrilled by whatever it is.
Even as an ardent Anderson ambassador, I can acknowledge his films are filled with highs and lows, and In the Lost Lands is no exception. Boyce and Gray Alys making their way through the wastelands (every post 2015 W.S. Anderson flick has taken influence from Mad Max: Fury Road, none more than this one) brings varying levels of intrigue and buy in. But very few contemporary action films put forth this much creative visual and formal juice as what Anderson and Jovovich consistently deliver. To speak on Jovovich, she is the perfect engine for Anderson's work, always the heroine who can say so much with so little words. People talk about the Kubrick stare, but I'd like to bring up the Milla stare — an expression that says "I've seen entirely too much in this life, but damn if I'm not ready for whatever it throws at me next."
I understand why it's chilling at a 25% critics and 45% audience score on the ole Rotten Tomatoes. But for those sitting in the minority who dug it, man is it a sweet time at the movies. More for us, I guess!
