Mickey 17 – The BRWC Review

13th March 2025

Mickey 17 – The BRWC Review. By Daniel Rester.

Director Bong Joon-ho is finally back with a new film after his previous picture, Parasite (2019), won Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and Best International Feature Film; it was also nominated for Best Film Editing and Best Production Design. His latest is Mickey 17, based on the clever but slightly underwhelming sci-fi book Mickey7 (2022) by Edward Ashton. While I don’t see Mickey 17 getting Oscar gold in its future, it is a well-made adaptation by Bong that fits in with the other dark social satires in his filmography.

Robert Pattinson plays the dimwitted and odd-voiced Mickey Barnes, who seeks to get off of Earth in the year 2054 after being unable to repay a loan shark. He signs up as an “expendable” with a crew heading to a planet called Niflheim in order to colonize it. Mickey is tasked with doing a number of dangerous jobs that could easily lead to his death. If he does die, a new clone of him pops out of an advanced printer so that he can continue his work.

While on Niflheim, Mickey spends time with his girlfriend Nasha (Naomi Ackie) and friend Timo (Steven Yeun) when he isn’t busy biting the dust for scientific research. He also has to deal with Kenneth Marshall (Mark Ruffalo), a failed politician who runs the colony. Marshall and his wife Ylfa (Toni Collette) have a cult-like following among some of the colonizers on Niflheim.

Things are going decently for Mickey, besides the constant dying of course, until he goes on a mission as clone 17. He is saved by a bug-like alien called a “creeper” while stuck in a snowy trench. Mickey 17 doesn’t make it back to the colony in time to announce his survival, so Mickey 18 is printed out. This is bad news for the two Mickeys as Marshall despises “multiples.”

While Ashton’s book has a lot of backstory and mostly focuses on the two Mickeys trying not to starve while splitting rations, Bong’s adaptation is more linear while also heading in decidedly different story directions. The film is both angrier and more cartoonish than the book as well, but it retains much of its humor and themes. It’s easy to see how Bong was drawn to the material as it shares similarities to his previous film Okja (2017), exploring people rebelling against the mistreatment of non-human creatures.

Much of the success of Mickey 17 is due to Pattinson’s eccentric and nuanced performances as 17 and 18. The former is a nicer version of the character while the latter takes the multiples situation less kindly. Pattinson explores the various characteristics of Mickey expertly, often with humorous body language. He offers perfect comedic timing as he navigates the film’s quirky narration too.

The supporting cast is having a good time as well, though none of them are on Pattinson’s level here. Ackie brings a lot of ferocity to Nasha instead of playing her as a standard love interest. Ruffalo and Collette chew the scenery a bit too much as the villains, and Ruffalo falls back on Trump-like behavior as an easy way into his character (Bong also has some of Marshall’s followers wear red hats). The two have one great scene involving a chaotic dinner though.

Mickey 17 is polished on the technical side as it captures its dystopian future. From the lava in recyclers to the crunchy ice in caves to the blocking of actors in cafeterias, Bong makes this sci-fi universe feel alive in every frame. He is aided immensely by production designer Fiona Crombie and cinematographer Darius Khondji, and the visual effects army at work. I never once doubted that I was looking at two Mickeys at once or centipede-like aliens or dirty spaceship interiors.

Unfortunately the screenplay by Bong isn’t as strong as his direction this time around. The writing is unsubtle, dumb, and messy at times, working against other times when it finds a nice balance of silly and smart. Some of this uneven quality is directly lifted from Ashton’s source material, but some of it comes straight from Bong. The Ylfa character, for instance, isn’t even in the book and feels entirely unnecessary in the film; a weird dream sequence involving her feels clunky as well. I’m all for adaptations changing things in translation, but not all of Bong’s ideas come together smoothly.

Bumpy writing and distracting supporting performances hold Mickey 17 back from sci-fi brilliance. The film’s visual excellence and Pattinson’s terrific work still make it very much worthwhile though. Just don’t expect Parasite levels of greatness.

Rating: 7.7/10

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