South Korean filmmaker Bong Joon Ho has fiddled around with dramatic thrillers like Memories of Murder and Mother as well as thoughtful science fiction such as Snowpiercer and The Host. After winning his handful of Oscars a few years back with his crossover drama Parasite, he’s now flipped the switch back to sci-fi with his newest film, the dystopian space opera Mickey 17.
Mickey 17 stars Robert Pattinson (The Batman, The Lighthouse) as Mickey Barnes, a loser who, after getting into trouble on Earth, volunteers to be an “expendable” on an outer space colonization mission. Expendables are part suicide soldiers and part lab rats, as they are basically used to do dangerous tasks and medical tests that might (and probably will) get them killed. The catch is, once they die, their body is just “reprinted” and their memories are implanted in the new shell. So, they basically can be reborn an infinite number of times.
So Mickey dies and gets reborn over and over again, all in the name of science and imperialism. However, at one point, Mickey is thought to have been killed when he really wasn’t, and he is reprinted, resulting in two simultaneous Mickeys. And the existence of Multiples is the cardinal sin of the Expendables program.
Bong Joon Ho based his screenplay for Mickey 17 on the 2022 novel Mickey7 by science fiction author Edward Ashton. The movie itself is a well made science fiction tale with both a unique story and the slick visuals to tell it. That’s what audiences have come to expect from Bong.
Mickey 17 is the fun Bong Joon Ho. It’s more on the side of The Host than Snowpiercer. It’s essentially an alien invasion movie, sort of like Starship Troopers with different character motivations. Humor and wit soak through the entire movie, making it more satire than serious. And it’s a spectacle. It’s big-screen sci-fi action movie fare.
While the story and spectacle may bring the fun, the cast is what really sells the movie. With Mickey, Robert Pattinson continues his post-Twilight trend of choosing interesting roles and nailing them. Since his memories are left intact every time he dies, each Mickey is subtly different, so Pattinson is playing dozens of roles, and he understands exactly what it takes to make each one a bit more nuanced than the last.
Crazily enough, Mickey has a girlfriend, a security guard/police officer named Nasha, played by Naomi Ackie (Blink Twice). Nasha is someone who knows that their soulmate exists only to die over and over again, and Ackie plays the role with a perfect mix of empathy, fear, compassion, and disappointment.
The movie’s satire is in full effect with the inclusion of Mark Ruffalo (Bruce Banner/The Hulk from The Avengers) as a failed politician named Kenneth Marshall who is at the helm of the colonization trip. Bong reportedly adapted his story from an early draft of Ashton’s book in 2021 and did not base his characters on any real-life figures, but it’s difficult not to see the influence of real people in Ruffalo’s unhinged performance. Toni Collette (Hereditary) is equally satirical in her portrayal of Marshall’s power-hungry wife, Ylfa.
Again, Bong Joon Ho knows how to make a good movie. The main issues with Mickey 17 are not with the actual movie, but instead with its treatment of the ideas that are at its core. The narrative brings forward two main ethical dilemmas, and while the film touches upon the philosophic arguments on each one, the real meat is avoided instead of tackled head-on.
First, and most obvious, is the use of cloning for experimental purposes. While the crux of the movie is that Mickey’s entire singular purpose is to die for the good of the whole, and there are scientists who support it and protestors who do not, things never go much further than people constantly (and morbidly) asking Mickey what it’s like to die, with the exception of one scene where Nasha dons a hazmat suit to hold Mickey while he is killed by poisonous gas. In a movie about human guinea pigs, one would think that there would be more of a stance taken.
Secondly, there is the more subtle theme of imperialism. The mission finds itself on an icy, frigid planet where the pioneers hope to build a life and create their own new civilization. But, of course, there’s an indigenous population of crazy, potato bug-type creatures who are already there. The analogy of taking over land that doesn’t belong to them is fairly obvious, but aside from Nasha quickly blurting out that “we’re the aliens!” when things come to a head, the point of colonialism isn’t really argued. It’s all a little too subtle.
For what it is, Mickey 17 is an entertaining movie. But it could have been much more. It could have been both entertaining and thought-provoking, thus becoming what all great science fiction aspires to be. As it is, it’s just very good.
GRADE: B
MPA Rating: R for language throughout, drug material, sexual content, and violent content
Release Date: March 7, 2025
Running Time: 2 hours 17 minutes
Studio: Warner Bros Pictures
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