Mickey 17 (2025) a project many including me were waiting for, from the hand of Robert Pattinson aka The Batman aka Mr Vampire from Twilight Saga comes Mickey 17. In concept its a really interesting concept of space exploration with expendables as workers who were willing to die over and over for the benefit of the mission but there is also this idiotic aspect of leaving such important mission to lead, to a man who is pure chaos within other things, some of the worst things you can imagine.
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After the massive success of Parasite in 2019, which made history as the first non English language movie to win Best Picture at the Oscars here comes back director Bong Joon Ho with Mickey 17, his third English language project. Robert Pattinson as the main character in what looked like his most comedic role ever but was he really funny? well there were a few very funny scenes from 17 and his counter part Mickey 18, yes there were two. The movie takes us to space in the year 2054 where Mickey Barnes becomes an "expendable" after falling deep into debt with a shark and now he got a lot of heat after him so his partner and him decided to go to space, thought it was the best way to stay alive, well he was basically immortal as long as they keep reprinting him. It's a cool concept that starts off strong but sadly doesn't keep up its momentum along the movie, there is a blend of social commentary, dark humor and weird characters, but in my opinion way far from Bong masterpiece Parasite. The cast includes Mark Ruffalo; and I have to say I fkn hate him on this movie in a good way, Toni Collett, and Naomi Ackie, all three support Robert Pattinson. Don't get me wrong I have to say Pattinson delivers a surprisingly funny performance, it ultimately doesn't fully hits on its intriguing concept since once you know they print him over and over then its kinda kill the joke, settling for a more conventional sci fi story by the end, Aliens and humans destruction.
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The economic aspect is very present in the movie as it develops during times that Earth's economy has worsened and people are trying to escape and space expeditions is whats hot. Mickey Barnes signs up for a colonization mission to the ice planet Niflheim after making a bad investment in a macaron store with his friend Timo, played by Steven Yeun, they are now desperate to escape loan sharks, Mickey takes the only available position as an expendable without even reading what the hell it was, the original Mickey was very clueless probably why Timo got him into trouble. Mickey will be used for dangerous experiments and missions, with his body and consciousness reprinted each time he dies, there aspects of this that are hilarious like his memory container, a brick style hard drive. The mission is led by Kenneth Marshall, a failed politician played out by Mark Ruffalo, who along with his wife Yifa, played by Toni Collette, wants to colonize Niflheim, this is a couple you are going to hate through the movie, this movie really reminds me of The Fifth Element in 1997 that was very futuristic for the moment and had characters that you really hate like Zorg.
Mickey falls in love with security agent Nasha, played by Naomi Ackie, who accepts him as he is but the weird part is that each Mickey they print out was different and during the movie the Mickey 17 mention how Nasha like every single one of them, taking in consideration she was crazy and a nympho too but it doesn't look like he was using him just for sex. The moment they arrive at Niflheim things got upside down by the discovery of creatures who Kenneth Marshall called Creepers, this creatures were so cute and meant no harm but Kenneth was peak paranoia of the unknown. When Mickey is sent on a mission to capture one, he falls into a cave and is swarmed by the aliens but they were trying to help him out not to eat him as he thought, he was so use to die that all he wanted was to get eaten and get it over and its here when Mickey 17 survive without the ship knowing before they reprint him.
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I really wanted to love Mickey 17 more than I did, the first half of the movie had me completely hooked with its dark comedy take on corporate exploitation and the existential questions raised by Mickey's situation, there were times were you can tell he wanted either to just die or not be reprint anymore. Scenes of different moments showing various Mickeys dying to test a vaccine is both hilarious and horrifying, perfectly showing off Bong's skills for finding humor in the darkest places, but as the movie goes on it started to lose focus, shifting away from the fascinating clone concept to a more standard "humans vs aliens" story that felt less original and less interesting, just as I mention above the joke was over.
The ending of Mickey 17 wraps up things not in the best way but certainly a definitive one after Mickey 18 sacrifices himself and kills Marshall in an explosion that fulfills the Creepers demand for a human life in exchange for the baby Creeper that was killed, peace is established between the humans and the Creepers who in fact were bluffing when it comes to kill the humans, they literally cant do them any harm other than run them over. There is also this final scene where we see that life on Niflheim has improved under new leadership, with Nasha now a council member who has helped reform the colony's policies, the expendable program has been officially ended and Mickey 17 is now simply known as Mickey Barnes taking back his identity and dignity too, they blow up the printer. There is also a twist that almost got me to be honest, its when Mickey had a disturbing vision or nightmare where he sees Yifa attempting to resurrect Marshall, claiming she's made the perfect sauce, this nightmarish scenes represents Mickey's anxiety about cloning technology misuse and the potential for history to repeat, basically go back into chains for him, Mickey was a slave, call it anyway you want it he was, even though he started the hole thing its just crazy to think this could actually happen in the future, no human should be treated this way. Its the destruction of the clone printer that symbolizes the end of an era of human rights abuses and exploitation.
I can't say this is the worst movie I have ever seen but coming from Robert Pattinson its obvious that many viewers would feel a bit let down, specially when we are waiting for his next Batman movie to be a big hitter. I bet if someone just go out to watch this movie not knowing who Pattinson is, probably have a good time. If they probably had explain a bit more of backstory about the technology and not blend it into the comedy side or have other expendables they could have probably extend the effect of the mystery of how and why humans got to that point, they did explain all this but it was just too short, reason why almost half of the movie falls into aliens vs humans and becomes a bit draggy, although I cant denied the last scenes were very intense with both Mickey probably dying and then just 18 exploding with Marshall, I have to give this movie a good neutral 7/10.
