After my best friend and I made a double feature out of Mickey 17 and The Monkey, I commented about the unintentional parallel between the movies: they both featured a talented actor playing two very different characters.
Also, the movies back-to-back made me understand the phrase “altered my brain chemistry.
Mickey 17
From the start, I appreciated that a movie featuring two Robert Pattinsons acknowledged the obvious route his girlfriend would take. Get the weird sex stuff out of the way, and you can focus on… a very odd sci-fi story.
There are essentially two separate focal points of Mickey 17. On one hand, we have a classic sci-fi ethics morality play about the ethics of cloning – always a good time. As a hardcore Star Wars fan, I love a well-executed clone narrative. And the inevitable debates on death, survival, and what makes you you – just marvellous.
But on the other hand… we have Mark Ruffalo doing an uncomfortably accurate Trump portrayal. God, how is he that good at the voice? Ruffalo was gorgeous as hell in Poor Things, how can he make me so disgusted to even look at him this time around?
Knowing Mickey 17 was directed by Bong Joon Ho, the creator of Parasite and Snowpiercer, the not-so-subtle class commentary makes sense. But my God, the heavy-handedness of “get it’s, he’s Trump” every time Ruffalo was on screen can hardly be called symbolism.
But let’s focus on my favorite part of Mickey 17: the romance. I don’t usually have strong opinions on movie romances, especially when there’s a lot of plot happening in the background. But a sci-fi love story has the possibility to be something truly special… and wow, did Mickey 17 deliver!
It’s more than the adorable beginning of Mickey17 and Nasha’s relationship, or the way Mickey18 unlocks a new part of it. It’s about how their dynamic symbolizes the journey of discovering hidden facets of your personality, of learning self-love, of becoming stronger while staying true to yourself, and having someone who helps you through it as they stand by your side. Because they love every version of you.
I’m going to tear up all over again.
Weird plot, great romance, and I wish we didn’t have Ruffalo’s Trump voice over the sex scene early on!
The Monkey
This was a movie I didn’t intend on seeing. The trailer looked like a bloody good time, but I was nervous about the long-term psychological effects of a Stephen King film. After seeing the trailer, I read the short story the movie was based upon, and I was a tad underwhelmed. It was creepy, certainly, but not overwhelmingly so. (And I know King can turn up the heat – I’ve read Survivor Type. *shudder*) Really, I was just curious about some of the elaborate deaths from the trailer and consequently disappointed not to find them in the original text.
So when my friend demanded that I see The Monkey with her for the first time, I was all too happy to agree. Surely, if nothing else, it would be a fun watch, right?
Well, there was so much else to love!
I should’ve realized how Final Destination-coded this movie would be. Because I absolutely adore all five of those films and their Rube Goldberg machines of death! And King’s little drum-playing monkey functions in much the same way. The pool scene gave me the strongest FD vibes.
Normally, I hate trailers for horror movies, as they tend to spoil all the best parts. And I’d see The Monkey’s trailer twice out of morbid curiosity. (And I couldn’t tell how the girl in the pool died, so I kept slowing it down to try and tell.) But The Monkey is a delightful gore-fest of blood and brains, so no matter how many deaths you think you’ve already seen, you haven’t caught half of them!
Alongside the parade of death, this movie’s comedic undertones are vastly apparent, leading to well-deserved tension breaks as the bodies pile up. The final scene left my friend and me laughing hysterically for a solid minute as the theater lights slowly came back to life.
Beneath the horror-comedy atmosphere, The Monkey delivers its audience a story of generational trauma, sibling rivalry, and an answer to the question of what to do in the face of inescapable death: dance.
The Monkey pulls a nice unexpected plot twist around the halfway point, which captured my interest in an even stronger chokehold. Theo James’ fucked-up, delicous performance was utterly enthralling. As the credits played, I knew I’d be seeing this movie again.
Sci-fi black comedy, horror-comedy – the comparisons are there to be made between these films. Cinematically, at the end of the day, they were both one hell of a theater watch. I had a truly delightful time with this movie pairing, especially with the free popcorn refill between showtimes!
Although I could’ve done without the ticket taker asking to see one of our IDs because of the R rating. My friend’s 22, I’m 23 – neither of us breaks 18? Really?
Eh, whatever, I’m over it. Mostly. Go watch The Monkey and get back to me. Instant camp classic!
