Review: Mickey 17’s dark comedic antics make for wild cinematic ride

Oscar-winning director Bong Joon-Ho returns to the big screen this weekend with the sci-fi film Mickey 17. If you're expecting the subtly devastating social commentary of his 2019 drama/horror/thriller-hybrid Parasite, I suspect you'll be disappointed. Mickey 17 is a very different beast in both aesthetic and tone. When the first trailer dropped, I wrote that the film felt like a darkly comedic version of Duncan Jones' 2009 film Moon, with a dash of the surreal absurdity of Terry Gilliam's Brazil (1985) thrown in for good measure. I stand by that assessment, and it proves to be a winning combination.

(Some spoilers below but no major reveals.)

The film is based on the 2022 novel Mickey7 by Edward Ashton. Ashton's inspiration for the novel was the teletransportation paradox—a thought experiment pondering the philosophy of identity that challenges certain notions of the self and consciousness. It started as a short story about what Ashton called "a crappy immortality" and expanded from there into a full-length novel. (Ashton also penned a sequel, Antimatter Blues, which was published in 2023.)

Bong made a number of changes from the book, but the basic premise is the same. Robert Pattinson plays a space colonist named Mickey Barnes, who is eager to escape Earth. He and his best buddy Timo (Steven Yuen) are in debt to a brutal loan shark after their macaron shop venture failed and decide being off-world is the answer.

Timo becomes a pilot, while Mickey signs up to be an "expendable" for a space mission to colonize the distant ice world Niflheim. Alas, he failed to read the fine print. Expendables are basically disposable employees (aka "second-hand baloney boys"). If they happen to die on the job, their consciousness is uploaded to a new printed body, and the cycle starts all over again.

Mickey settles into his expendable role on the four-year journey, dying and being reprinted several times, and even finds love with security agent Nasha (Naomi Ackie). The mission finally reaches Niflheim, and he's soon on Version 17—thanks to being used to detect a deadly airborne virus, with multiple versions dying in the quest to develop a vaccine. As the colonists explore this cold new world, Mickey 17 falls into a deep fissure inhabited by native life forms that resemble macroscale tardigrades, dubbed "creepers." Timo leaves Mickey for dead,  assuming they'll just eat him, but the creepers (who seem to share a hive mind) instead save Mickey's life, returning him to the surface.

Mickey Barnes (Robert Pattinson) failed to read the fine print when he signed up as an "expendable."

Warner Bros.

Mickey Barnes (Robert Pattinson) failed to read the fine print when he signed up as an "expendable." Warner Bros.

Every time he dies, Mickey is reprinted and his consciousness restored.

Warner Bros.

Every time he dies, Mickey is reprinted and his consciousness restored. Warner Bros.

Mickey's best friend, Timo (Steven Yuen), snags a plum position as a pilot.

Warner Bros.

Mickey's best friend, Timo (Steven Yuen), snags a plum position as a pilot. Warner Bros.

Every time he dies, Mickey is reprinted and his consciousness restored. Warner Bros.

Mickey's best friend, Timo (Steven Yuen), snags a plum position as a pilot. Warner Bros.

Security agent Nasha (Naomi Ackie) loves every iteration of Mickey.

Warner Bros.

Mark Ruffalo and Toni Collette play cultish politician Kenneth Marshall and his wife Ylfa.

Warner Bros.

When Mickey gets back to his quarters, he finds his replacement, Mickey 18, is already there. The problem goes beyond Nasha's opportunistic desire for an awkward threesome with the two Mickeys. Multiples are simply not allowed. The controversial reprinting technology isn't even legal on Earth and was only allowed on the colonization mission with the understanding that any multiples would be killed immediately and their consciousness backup wiped—i.e., a permanent death.

A tale of two Mickeys

It's Pattinson's impressive dual performance as Mickey 17 and Mickey 18 that anchors the film. They might be clones with identical physical traits and memories, but we learn there are subtle differences in all the printings. Mickey 17 is more laid-back, meekly suffering abuse in the name of progress, while Mickey 18 is more rebellious and frankly has some anger issues. Pattinson adopted two different accents to differentiate between the two. Mickey and Nasha's love story is the movie's heart; she loves him in all his incarnations, through death after death. The scene where she dons a hazmat suit to hold Mickey 14—or is it 15?—in his isolation chamber as he dies (yet again) from the airborne virus is among the film's most touching.