CLONE WARS

Robert Pattinson in Bong Joon-ho’s out-of-this-world thriller…

Robert Pattinson stars as the 17th iteration of an expendable worker

The short description is, it’s about a man whose job is to die,’ says Edward Ashton, author of 2022 novel Mickey7. ‘The longer description is, it’s about a man whose job is to die and not make it stick. It’s a dark comedy set about a thousand years in the future, and it’s got some philosophical underpinnings.’

Adapting the source novel, Bong Joon-ho has made Mickey 17 his hotly anticipated follow-up to the Oscar-winning Parasite. In the titular role is Robert Pattinson, an ‘expendable’ employee who’s given all the dangerous – suicidal, even – jobs on a mission to colonise the ice world of Niflheim. The reason being, if he dies, a new body is regenerated and all of his memories and personality traits are copied into it. Which brings us to those ‘philosophical underpinnings’. Is an exact replica the real thing? Or as Ashton puts it, ‘Would that new person be you, or would it be some other guy running around getting his hands all over your stuff?’

Pattinson certainly loves the idea of his Mickey getting wise to the deal, and he also loved working with the renowned Korean filmmaker. ‘It’s like nothing I’ve ever done before,’ he said. ‘It’s completely crazy.’

MONSTER MASH

Godzilla and Kong fight off a new threat…

We’ve so far seen four movies and two TV shows in the MonsterVerse. The last big-screen outing, 2021’s Godzilla vs. Kong, delivered on its title, and then concluded with everyone’s two favourite Kaiju teaming up to hand Mechagodzilla his ass on a stadium-sized plate.

So how do you get bigger than that? Well, shooting the whole thing in IMAX 1.90:1 is a great start. What’s more, this sequel - made in Queensland, Australia - looks set to pit our titanic buddies against a new threat. Mechagodzilla, it seems, was just a warm-up bout. And though the nature of this new alpha titan is being kept under wraps, it’s safe to say it’ll be Ivan Drago to Clubber Lang. Equally intriguing is that returning director Adam Wingard says Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire will explore the Hollow Earth. ‘I think there is a lot more to do there,’ he says. ‘This is a prehistory of Planet Earth, where all the titans come from.’

On the human front, conspiracy theorist Bernie Hayes (Brian Tyree Henry), linguist Dr. Ilene Andrews (Rebecca Hall) and her adopted daughter Jia (Kaylee Hottle) will return, while Dan Stevens, Alex Ferns and Rachel House are new to the monster bout. Exciting, but expect the Kaiju to be beast in show.