In “Mickey 17,” the latest film from acclaimed South Korean auteur Bong Joon-ho, there is one line that perfectly encapsulates the wide range of thematic mainstays the writer-director has employed throughout his extensive career — and it’s one that you might not immediately catch. The film, about a crew chosen to colonize a new planet as Earth teeters on habitability, is packed to the gills with scathing takedowns of fascism and how its proponents advocate for the socioeconomic divide. These two subjects repeatedly crop up in Bong’s filmography, among other social, cultural and political messaging. In fact, “Mickey 17” is Bong at his most overt, taking advantage of the post-Oscar blank check Warner Bros. wrote him to make his points clear and concise, neatly packaged to be delivered to the most significant number of people possible.
But among all of Bong’s opining is a fantastic line that bores directly to the heart of his message. When the crew of the colonization mission discover that their new home, an ice planet called Niflheim, is inhabited by armadillo-like crawler creatures, they wonder what to do about this unanticipated roadblock in their efforts. The mission’s leaders, the failed politician Kenneth Marshall (Mark Ruffalo) and his complicit wife Ylfa (Toni Collette) decide that a mass extinction is in order. When they capture a crawler, Ylfa cuts off its tail and throws it in a NutriBullet, blending it to a pulp before popping a finger into the mixture to give it a taste. Apparently, it’s delicious. With a smile creeping across her face, Ylfa exclaims, “This opens up a whole new world of potential sauces!”
