Mickey 17 Review – What If Your Job Was to Die for a Living?

Bong Joon-ho has made history. No review of Mickey 17 should be without the context of what he achieved with Parasite, even if his latest project is a huge departure. 

After creating the first entirely non-English film to win the Best Picture Award at the Academy Awards, Joon-ho’s stock is high. He has the keys to the movie kingdom and wasn’t afraid to explore and experiment when making Mickey 17.

(SPOILERS AHEAD) Bong Joon-ho Space Romp Turns Fever Dream

Set in the near future, it follows a man named Mickey Barnes – but not just any version of him. Mickey is an “Expendable,” which is a disposable worker made by a process of human printing, sent on dangerous missions for a human colony trying to survive on an icy, hostile planet called Niflheim. When he dies, a new body is printed, complete with all his memories.

It sounds like immortality, but Mickey’s reality is far from glamorous. He’s used for tasks too risky for others like scouting unknown terrain and helping deal with alien lifeforms. 

Death, for Mickey, is part of the job description. The human crash test dummy. His only comfort comes from knowing that he’ll wake up again with a fresh body and the same tired mind. Mickey is a minor celebrity in the colony and his repeated deaths become a source of amusement.

The plot gets a serious twist when Mickey 17 (his seventeenth incarnation) is presumed dead on a mission. But he isn’t. He survives with the help of some Alien creatures, and when he returns, he finds that Mickey 18 has already taken his place. The new Mickey is sleeping in his dorm, with his long-term girlfriend Nasha, when Mickey finds him. Nasha has grown used to new Mickeys and, in a surprising twist, is open to the idea of keeping a spare…

Suddenly, there are two of him walking around, each with the same memories, but Mickey 18 has a very different take on their situation.

Chaos, Clones, and Cartoon Villains in a Space Colony on the Brink

I would say that this plot point (or “Deus Ex Mickeyna,” if you like) is where the chaos begins, but the audience has been immersed in an hour of utter chaos by this point.

The story shifts from a standard survival narrative into something more complex: a strange, philosophical ride dealing with identity, existence, and what it means to be human when your body is just another printable part. Oh, and there are also cute aliens.

Tension builds as both Mickeys try to navigate their place in a society that’s already teetering on collapse with colonial leadership becoming increasingly suspicious and bizarre, and political stakes rising fast thanks to the cartoon villain-style leader, Kenneth Marshall (Mark Ruffalo).

The shallow, spray-tanned leader’s inspiration could only be more obvious if he had been named Ronald Strump and wanted to “Make Space Great Again”. He leads the colony, with a lot of steering from his partner, Ylfa (Toni Collette), whose obsession with making sauces from the colony’s nearby alien neighbours’ tails makes for one of many fever-dream-style sub-plots.

While Ylfa makes her strange sauces, the scientists in the colony are establishing a way to communicate with the nearby aliens, dubbed “Creepers” by the crew. What they learn from these creatures builds the film to its thrilling conclusion.

​​Two-For-One Robert Pattinson

Robert Pattinson has shed the monotonous emo vampire character well and truly over recent years, with a little help from Christopher Nolan casting him in the acclaimed Tenet. He has proved his acting chops, and his portrayal of “The Mickeys” deserves credit.

In fact, even when we enter the multi-Mickey part of the movie, there is never any doubt about which is Mickey 17 and which is Mickey 18, in spite of their identical appearances. 17 has a world-weary and downtrodden personality, while 18 has a hard edge and a nihilistic streak. Their differences raise further questions about the moralities of the human printing process, but also give Pattinson a chance to impress, making it feel somehow natural that there are two of him in the scene.

The wider casting is another strong point, with Colette and Ruffalo serving as unusual villains that viewers can laugh at as well as deeply disliking, and promising British actors including Patsy Ferran, Naomi Ackie, and comedian/poet Tim Key in one of his occasional movie roles. The Brits bring a certain dry humour to the proceedings.

Existential Themes Explored With Quirky Humour

Mickey 17 could scarcely find a more pertinent set of themes to explore: AI, genetic engineering, space exploration, shady politics, and human identity.

When directors take two-and-a-half hours to explore these kinds of themes, you normally expect some bleak viewing and gritty filmmaking. But Mickey 17 is on the other end of the spectrum, packed with action, silly sub-plots, dry humour, and a lot of fun.

Joon-ho has reached that level where he can really do what he wants in his filmmaking, and the tonal shifts in this movie might suggest that “shiny object syndrome” played a part. It pushes in one direction before dialing back and going in another entirely. At one stage, it feels like the movie could devolve into a full slasher horror film, at others it feels like a strange episode of Rick and Morty where the Pattinsons won’t stop multiplying.

I can only think of a handful of movies that take on such a bold set of sci-fi tropes and outlandish events and still hold up. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and Galaxy Quest both spring to mind. I’d say both examples are slightly funnier, though neither of them tackle such pertinent themes…

Lots of the references are on the nose rather than being subtle, but this helps to bring the satire to the front and remind us that this movie isn’t trying to be particularly cool or bleak in the same way that most futuristic sci-fi films are.

Mickey 17 turns a wild sci-fi concept into a surprisingly human story and one that flirts with big ideas without losing its sense of fun. It has some silly humour, and won’t appeal to those who like their sci-fi anchored in realism. There is no Andy Weir-style effort to explain the science while entertaining the audience, but nobody can accuse Mickey 17 of being boring or lacking in action.