Mickey 17: Twice the Robert Pattinsons, Twice the Madness in Bong Joon Ho's Latest
By Karen Gordon
Rating: A-
Is it too soon to talk about Oscar worthy performances for 2026? Even though we’ve just put the 2025 awards to bed, I’m betting Robert Pattinson’s name will be tossed around as a contender for his work in Bong Joon Ho’s sci-fi film Mickey 17.
He’s that good in a film that is darkly comic, satirical, unpredictable, hugely entertaining, and at times bonkers as it ponders questions about, among other things, death and mortality.
How many Robert Pattinson’s does it take to make a Bong Joon Ho movie? Two.
Mickey 17, based on the novel Mickey 7 by Ashton Edward, is Bong’s highly anticipated follow up to 2019’s massively popular Parasite. That critically acclaimed film won the Palme d'Or at Cannes , and went on to nab four Academy Awards, making Oscar history by becoming the first non-English-language film to win Best Picture. .
And while the two movies are miles away in terms of, well, almost everything, at the core are issues that Bong has traditionally explored in his films: imbalances in society related to class and status.
Beyond that, there are so many secondary themes running through Mickey 17 - questions of morality, identity, psychological trauma, fascism, environmentalism amongst them - that you may find that the person sitting next to you walks out of the theatre with a slightly different take than yours.
Pattison stars as Mickey Barnes. He and his childhood friend Timo (Steven Yeun) find themselves unable to pay a violent loan shark. To get as far away as possible, they sign up as crew on a spaceship bound for a distant, wintry planet called Niflheim. The mission is led by Kenneth Marshall (Mark Ruffalo), a corrupt, cartoonish and increasingly unhinged politician with authoritarian aims. He is aided by his equally unhinged, ambitious Lady Macbeth-esque wife Yifa (Toni Collette). With their superior air, they’re out to colonize and rule.
Timo signs up to be a pilot. And without thinking much about it (we get the sense that he often doesn't think much about anything very deeply), Mickey signs up as an Expendable.
What that means is that he’s agreed to be a disposable human, but, one who can’t die, thanks to technology that’s illegal on Earth. He can be used for all kinds of experiments and dangerous assignments and missions that could and sometimes do kill him. When that happens, he’s “reprinted” in a machine that looks like an MRI, his old memories are uploaded into his brain, and he’s back to his life again, for another potentially deadly assignment. And back to the arms of his long-term girlfriend, the fierce security officer Nasha Barridge (Naomi Ackie).
When we first meet Mickey, he’s being reprinted for the 17th time, and he’s tired of it all. Meanwhile, the ship has landed on the wintry planet Niflheim, where the giant grub-ike “Creepers” pose an obstacle. On a mission to capture one, Mickey is given up for dead, which leads the science team to print up a Mickey 18. Oops.
This is now an existential crisis for both Mickeys. They may be from the same source, but they’re not exactly alike. Each reprinted Mickey has a slightly different personality. Mickey 17 is a somewhat hapless, happy-go-lucky guy. Mickey 18, is darker and more aggressive. With mutual annihilation looming, 18 tries to kill his predecessor.
Marshall has his own Eureka moment from the accidental duplication, scheming to use Expendable multiples against the Creepers. His planetary empire beckons.
And, as if it hasn’t been so up until now, madness ensues.
Mickey 17 is a long ride with a running time of about two hours and twenty minutes, with unexpected twists and turns. It’s a lot of fun, and as previously noted, is stuffed with ideas.
Bong’s not pedantic. He’s a canny storyteller, with a wry sensibility, who seeks to entertain. But he has the great knack of building the whimsical around deeper ideas that reveal themselves seamlessly.
As always, he walks lightly, and he doesn't compel you to think about these things. Still, they’re there for you to consider, which adds complexity to the fun.
There are lots of other themes here, from love to psychological trauma, to the sadly too present-tense issue of leaders with authoritarian tendencies, and the costs of being out of touch with the organic, be that human or environmental.
The character Mickey 17 might not be a deep thinker, yet he represents deeper thoughts. The nature of existence as a man-made disposable, remade at someone’s whim, experiencing the moment of death over and over, gives us lots to contemplate.
Mickey 17. Written and directed by Bong Joon Ho, starring Robert Pattinson, Naomi Ackie, Steven Yeun, Mark Ruffalo, Toni Collette. In theatres March 7.