Mickey 17 (2025)


The idea of dying repeatedly and coming back is a well-worn trope in science fiction.  Usually the way its handled is with a time loop, where everything resets at the end of the day and the person lives their life over and over until either they discover what is causing the loop or satisfy some mystical part of the universe that allows them to then continue.  Often these are quite interesting despite the proliferation of similar stories and movies. 

Mickey 17 looks at a different type of situation where the person is labeled an "Expendable", meaning that they are able to be used in dangerous situations or experiments with the understanding that they will have a new body printed and their memories restored after each death.  While it sounds in some ways enticing, Mickey Barnes (Robert Pattinson) soon learns the gravity of what he signed up form.

Mickey and his friend Timo (Steven Yeun) make a bad business investment using money from loan shark Darius Blank (Ian Hanmore), who prefers his debtors to default as he gets off on watching them be tortured and killed.  In order to escape the friends sign up to join an expedition to colonize a planet called Niflheim.  The mission is run by Kenneth Marshall (Mark Ruffalo) and his controlling wife Ylfa (Toni Collette).  Marshall is a one-term congressman who has a cult-like following for his religious and white-supremacist views.  Timo signs on as a pilot, while Mickey signs up to be an Expendable.

It turns out that it wasn't the best decision as they use him to test out the effects of radiation on the body, different nerve gasses, help find a vaccine for an alien virus as well as sending him on all the dangerous missions.  He finds solace in his companion Nasha (Naomi Ackie).  While on a mission to capture one of the local creatures - named "creepers" by Marshall - Mickey 17 falls into a crevasse.  He is saved, but believing he is dead Mickey 18 is printed out, causing complications back at the base.  It also turns out that every iteration of Mickey is a bit different, and 18 thinks it is time to make some changes. 

Mickey 17 is based on a book by Edward Ashton called Mickey 7.  Apparently, writer and director Bong Joon Ho wanted to kill Mickey off a few more times but, from what I understand, this doesn't deviate too much from the story.  However, that doesn't take away from the fact that, other than the question about what makes a human a full person, the story pulls from a number of different sci-fi stories, particularly Ender's Game.  

While Robert Pattinson continues to do an amazing job reminding us that he is not just a pretty boy from Twilight, everyone else other than him is kind of wasted.  Toni Collette is pretty one-note as the sauce-obsessed wife of the Commander, while Mark Ruffalo is trying too hard to imitate Trump.  This movie was completed in 2023, and was the first one Bong Jon Hoon made after his Oscar-winning Parasite, but was delayed until this year.  I think the plan was for Trump to have not won the election so that this would be a bit funnier, but at the moment it's just a sore reminder of grave mistakes we have made. 

What keeps the movie from just being a bunch of recycled sci-fi tropes is the humor and the worldbuilding.  While there is nothing too special about the story itself the fun in the film comes from its send-up of such as well as by casting a satirical eye on our current society.  The whole thing takes place in 2054, and it is hard to imagine that we will have interstellar travel or much of the tech in the movie in a mere 29 years, but the idea is more to just go with the world that Ashton and Bong Joon Ho have built.  It would be interesting to learn more about what is happening on Earth, as it seems like everyone is in a hurry to leave, but then a little information goes a long way toward keeping one interested in what is happening.

Mickey 17 is still a bit too long for what it is and, despite bringing up a number of questions about identity, tends not to follow up on them or delve too deeply.  It's decent entertainment but it is not something recommended if one is looking for any deep, psychological meanings in the film. 

Mickey 17 (2025)
Time: 137 minutes
Starring: Robert Pattinson, Naomi Ackie, Steven Yeun, Mark Ruffalo, Toni Collette
Director: Bong Joon Ho



 

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