Mickey 17

Released 2025. Director: Bong Joon-Ho

THE NOVEL "MICKEY 7" BY EDWARD ASHTON has all the signature elements you'll find in Bong Joon-Ho’s movies: class disparity, the clash between those with power and those who serve, a streak of dark humour, characters whose lives border on absurdity, not to mention strange creatures. So it’s no surprise the South Korean director has chosen this to be his next project after his unprecedented victory at the Oscars with Parasite.

On the surface the movie is a sci-fi fantasy set in the distant future of cloning and inter-planetary exploration. On a deeper level it’s also a philosophical musing on identity and the value of human life.

Mickey Barnes, a no-ambition non-achiever, is pursued by bloodthirsty loan-sharks over a dubious business venture by his crooked mate Timo. To save himself, Mickey runs as far as he can by signing up for the one job no sane person would apply for: an Expendable.

Mickey, who hasn't read the terms and conditions of employment, finds out the hard way he'll be given the most hazardous work on a years-long expedition to colonise an alien planet. If and when Mickey is killed, which is to be expected, a new clone will be produced to take on the next suicidal task. The guy is expendable by any gruesome manner, only to be reborn the next day, with memory of his past lives intact.

The movie starts with Mickey version 17 left to die after he’s fallen into an ice cave on the planet Niflheim where the expedition has landed. As the poor guy waits to be devoured by alien creatures he narrates his remarkable adventure, his life flashing before his eyes as it were. Having been killed off 16 times, including deadly exposure to cosmic radiation, repeated viral infections, getting stabbed, gassed, burned, the list goes on, Mickey is getting sick of this cycle of endless rebirth, too bad he’s signed up for a job with no end in sight.

Mickey could conceivably go on living forever, stuck at the same age, truly immortal, but what is the meaning of this life? The value of Mickey’s life is found in his repeated death, but it is a utilitarian value for his employer, not for Mickey. An existence based on exploitation without personal fulfilment is worse than death, which is one thing Mickey wouldn’t say no to.

The metaphor of a class struggle is very much on the nose. Mickey represents the working people trodden and exploited for generations, trapped in a vicious circle, hopeless and powerless.

At the other end is the privileged and powerful, Mickey’s employer Kenneth Marshall, tycoon and former politician whose hunger for power is only matched by his penchant for outlandish theatrics and a total absence of empathy. The political satire also isn’t shy in sending up the current occupant of the White House. A massive commotion of discontent outside? That’d make a great photo op!

Although the movie clearly contains all the usual themes you associate with a movie by Bong, Mickey 17 is missing his signature touch, that perceptive cultural insight, flash of emotional resonance and devilish bite that marks his best works. The fact that this is an adaptation and not one of his original stories (the basis of his best movies) could be a reason.

Mickey 17 also bears resemblance to Snowpiercer, Bong’s first English-language feature from 2013, in which a post-apocalyptic society is segregated by class distinction on a train that goes around a permanently frozen Earth. Both movies examine the clash between the haves and the have-nots, Snowpiercer is more serious-minded and action-oriented while Mickey 17 leans heavily on personalities and satire.

On the subject of recurring motifs, Mickey 17 also features heavily Bong’s fascination with large strange creatures. In the past he’s given us a giant mutant fish-monster in The Host and a gentle oversized pig-hippo hybrid in Okja. This time we get an army of alien creatures with oval-shaped segmented bodies and legs of centipedes. These are the natives of Niflheim who will play a critical role towards the end of the movie.

Mickey is ably played by Robert Pattinson with a childlike, simple-minded naivety that’s a fresh side to the actor’s repertoire. The dim-witted and weak-minded personality, though undoubtedly honest and decent, may not be the most sympathetic attributes to describe the representation of the underclass. The emergence of a mean and calculative Mickey 18, however, provides a playful contrast and gives Pattinson the chance to play opposing twins.

Mark Ruffalo and Toni Collette ham up their villainous roles as the Marshalls. Vain, grotesque and without redeeming qualities, for bad guys they are pretty one-dimensional in an otherwise busy movie packed with symbolism and metaphors.

The revolt that comes at the end is a result of a few mutineers comprising Mickey, his girlfriend Nasha (Naomie Ackie), Timo (Steven Yeun) and some sympathetic scientists, working alongside the creatures to thwart the Marshalls. The over-riding comic-book vibe of the movie is most pronounced in the final battle sequence, from the look of the action scenes to its simplistic denouement when the villain is vanquished and good guys win the day after a CGI-heavy battle sequence that ends with a couple of quick-cut press-button and ka-boom scenes.

The choice of his next movie after the phenomenal success of Parasite, which is immaculate in many ways, is bound to be laden with unusually high expectations. Mickey 17, with its conspicuous allegorical storytelling, is never short on ideas but it wouldn’t stand out among the best of Bong’s movies. The masterful storyteller is still clearly passionate about the themes he continues to explore, but he’s beginning to sound repetitive.

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