Mickey 17 Review

The world is cursed. But still, you find reasons to keep living.

As workers of the world feel the immense and crippling weight of capitalism and the existential threat of climate change, Bong Joon-ho has returned to tell you that you deserve happiness. Mickey 17 is a hilarious and spectacular sci-fi adventure led by the standout performance of Robert Pattinson, who's operating at Charlie Chaplin levels of physical comedy here. Bong has finally crafted together his previous two American films (Okja and Snowpiercer) and combined them with master Hayao Miyazaki's works like Princess Mononoke and Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind into something truly special. With its excellent cast, this goofy sci-fi romp is elevated to new heights and will sometimes break your heart but ultimately leave your heart full of the love you deserve.

Mickey 17 follows Mickey Barnes (Robert Pattinson), who decides to leave the hellscape of Earth after accruing too much debt from a mob boss. He joins a fanatical colony expedition led by failed politician and evangelist Kenneth Marshall (Mark Ruffalo) as an expendable. As an expendable, every time he dies on one of the expeditions, he is then cloned and brought back to life to do this over and over again. As Mickey is coming to terms with his infinite plight in life, he is left dead in the cold of the colony's planet, only to be rescued by the intelligent bug-like inhabitants. The expedition thought him dead, so he decided to pop out another Mickey, leading to Mickey coming face to face with another version of himself and having the courage to take down this cruel regime at the center of the expedition.

First and foremost, Robert Pattinson is acting on levels of sophisticated goofiness we may have never seen. At times, his ability to contort his face and give us some fantastic physical comedy is something out of a Wile E. Coyote cartoon (complimentary). Pattison delivers two different performances of Mickey's two clones, distinct in their personalities and how they carry themselves. It's so fantastic that he drastically distinguished the two by his posture. Mickey is a simple character but a sponge able to absorb so much empathy that it tears my eye to see where this character ultimately ends up.

Mickey 17 features an all-star cast, including the power couple Mark Ruffalo and Toni Collette. Ruffalo plays a peculiar amalgamation of Donald Trump and Elon Musk, both characters sprinkled in with a televangelist, led by his patheticness and veneers. Collette plays his sauce-loving wife, pulling Ruffalo's strings and helping soften his fragile ego whenever he feels threatened or attacked. They both have fantastic comedic chemistry and tap into these leaders' innate cruelness and pitifulness. Bong's contempt for them and making them seem so cringe was a delight to see on screen. Naomi Ackie, who plays Pattinson's girlfriend who sticks with him through every death, kicks so much ass in this. She is bombastic while containing the heart of this story, a person who will die with someone a million times even if they are seen as replaceable. I could have used some more Steven Yeun in this, but he plays such a great dirtbag friend that I smile whenever he pops on the screen.

One of the most underrated things about Bong's direction is his comedic chops. He stages incredible sequences here right out of The Three Stooges. When Pattinson fights his other self, it leads to enjoyable and whacky moments that are tightly shot without becoming disorienting. I loved the entire world that Bong has crafted. It has feelings of Ridley Scott's Prometheus sci-fi but also of unforgiving cubicle office space. I adored the sweet bug life inhabiting the world design, and the showdown out on the ice was a degree of epicness that Bong had never reached before. It is a crisply digitally shot film that oozes Bong's distinct style, and I’m reminded how brutal he can be behind the camera.

I feel the themes of many of Bong's films have either been misconstrued as cliches or overanalyzed to death. Still, to me and what the man has to say for himself, he's always clearly smacked you in the face with the social commentary he is trying to portray on screen. He is not shy about emphasizing precisely what he wants to convey, be it the emotional grind and toll that capitalism has taken on our bodies and psyche or the devastation we have caused to our beautiful planet. What I love about Mickey 17 is that he is trying to finally say it is okay to accept the awfulness in this world and that you can still receive love and happiness despite it all.

Are there flaws with Mickey 17? Absolutely. There are some pacing issues throughout the film, and maybe there is not enough depth to my liking for some of the characters or themes. However, these minor drawbacks do not overshadow the absolute blast I had watching Pattinson duel it out with himself in thrilling and hilarious scenarios on this sci-fi quest across the galaxy, where we humans finally come to peace with nature and ourselves. Bong delivered the first banger of 2025, and I'm so happy he had so much fun with this project.

Final Score: 8.5/10

Written by Kevin J. Pettit