Writer’s note: The second paragraph of this article (just below the first image) contains a basic outline of the film’s premise. There are no spoilers that weren’t already inferred in the film’s own trailer. However, if you want to completely avoid potential spoilers, skip over the second paragraph.
Winning the Academy Award for Best Director is one of the highest honours a filmmaker can receive. This achievement is especially exciting if the film also won prizes in the most categories, including Best Picture and Best Screenplay. This would immediately catapult that filmmaker into the stratosphere, and audiences would eagerly await their next project. This has been the case for Bong Joon Ho ever since his groundbreaking thriller, Parasite (2019). Joon Ho was known and respected as a masterful director long before Parasite’s success, but that project cemented his place as one of the greatest filmmakers of the 21st century. It has been six years since Parasite’s release, and Joon Ho has been relatively quiet, so whatever he was cooking up must be a true labour of love. Now, we finally have the chance to see what he’s been up to, with the release of Mickey 17 (2025).
Set in the year 2050, Mickey Barnes (Robert Pattinson) and his friend Timo (Steven Yeun) have few prospects on earth, and are in deep trouble with a powerful loan shark. In order to escape their troubles, the pair volunteer to be part of a crew on a spaceship intended to colonise an ice-planet called Niflheim. Due to having no qualifications or practical skills, Mickey signs up to become an “Expendable”. His job is simple: if the crew of colonisers need to test how deadly an area or element of the planet is, Mickey has to go in first, and be killed. His remains are then studied, allowing the crew to accurately assess the threat and ensure that no one else is killed. No one on the spaceship is concerned for Mickey, because they simply grow a new clone of Mickey every time he dies. The only wrinkle for Mickey, is that he has to endure the pain of death every single time he’s sent out on a mission.
Right away, the premise of Mickey 17 is intriguing. Even if you’re not a fan of hard science fiction, the prospect of seeing a character having to reckon with the concept of life in this fashion is exciting and interesting. Joon Ho is clearly aware of the premise’s potential, as he wastes no time digging deep into all the moral and philosophical questions. What needs to happen in someone’s life to make them volunteer for a continually fatal role? What does such a role do to a person after a while? How do they build relationships under these circumstances, and do the people in their life respect their humanity? All of these concerns are raised and unpacked in the film’s brilliant first act, resulting in an exhilarating and intellectually stimulating experience.
However, this isn’t the only thing that Mickey 17 has on its mind, as these issues naturally develop into a tense subplot about the ethics of cloning. This certainly isn’t anything new, but seeing Joon Ho’s take on the subject is still fascinating. That being said, Mickey 17’s script does start jumping over a few details when it introduces the cloning angle. Additionally, important information about the cloning process (which should’ve been established earlier) is dropped into the story without any warning. It’s not a problem to have things brought up as a surprise, but these elements aren’t treated as reveals, and should’ve been set up long before they came into play. If new elements are just being thrown in without significant build up, it sometimes feels as though the screenwriter is making things up as they go along.
This continues deep into the second and third acts, as even more plot threads are introduced. Specifically, Mickey 17 dives into political commentary, drawing parallels to the most controversial and divisive politicians currently in office. Anyone familiar with Joon Ho’s previous films will know that social issues and political issues are common themes for him, so it makes sense that they show up here too. Unfortunately, the messaging isn’t quite as strong as it was in Joon Ho’s prior efforts. To be clear, the points he is making are well illustrated, but unlike Memories of Murder (2003), The Host (2006), Snowpiercer (2013) or Parasite, Mickey 17 feels like it had enough interesting story points going on without the political commentary. Unlike those earlier films, Mickey 17 didn’t need this extra layer to function, so it unfortunately just feels like added weight.
This is most apparent by the film’s climax, as Mickey 17 practically abandons all of the interesting mortality and cloning themes, in favour of being a political action epic. All those intriguing philosophical ideas take a back seat for the finale, only for the film to bring them up again in the resolution. This is particularly odd, as all the characters appear to have learned that cloning is bad, but it feels hollow because there’s no way anyone would’ve learned that from the events of the climactic battle. In reality, our heroes would’ve learned the opposite, because the existence of cloning directly contributes to how the day is won. So even though it’s a fascinating and enjoyable film, that enjoyment slowly turns into confusion and frustration as the story goes on.
A major saving grace is the charming, hilarious and layered performance of Robert Pattinson as Mickey. This is a deceptively challenging role, as Pattinson is actually playing multiple, slightly different characters (or clones of Mickey) throughout the film. If anyone was still doubting Pattinson’s acting talent, it will be impossible to do so after a viewing of Mickey 17. The additional performances by Toni Collette, Mark Ruffalo, Steven Yeun and Naomi Ackie are equally excellent, as all manage to perfectly balance Joon Ho’s brand of psychological complexity and dark comedy.
Mickey 17 may be Joon Ho’s return to cinema following his Oscar win, but is it also (unfortunately) his worst film. Granted, the calibre of his previous work reaches the highest of highs, so Mickey 17 is only his worst by virtue of the fact that it is perfectly good, but is no masterpiece. Where his earlier films are flawlessly fun, Mickey 17 is a flawed good time.
6.5/10
Best way to watch it: With your twin.
