Mickey 17 (2025)

There is a person whose job is to die. And to do it repeatedly. Mickey 17, adapted by Bong Joon-ho from Edward Ashton’s novel, pushes this absurd premise seriously and persistently through the form of sci-fi black comedy. My rating is ★4.0.

What it’s about — An Expendable Whose Job Is to Die

The future. Aboard a colony spaceship through which humanity has escaped Earth, there is a man named Mickey Barnes (Robert Pattinson). His title is “Expendable” — consumable material. He is deployed to dangerous missions, and when he dies, a clone printer revives him. The seventeenth Mickey returns from death to find the eighteenth Mickey has already been printed — that situation is the film’s starting point. Bong Joon-ho’s characteristic gaze on class and power unfolds across the setting of a space colony.

Direction — A Spaceship Space That Holds Class

Bong Joon-ho has completely digested the source material’s setup in his own way. The way a closed colonial spacecraft functions as a vessel for class structure and power abuse is quintessential Bong Joon-ho. At the same time, the comedy generated by two versions of the same person coexisting is not light. Dark humour and serious themes alternate and collide in rhythm — something seen in Parasite as well, but here, with the freedom of sci-fi as a genre, the experimentation is bolder. The visual composition of each scene follows Bong Joon-ho’s characteristic class-based spatial design, and the colonial exploration premise itself already contains an inherently unequal power structure.

Performance — Pattinson Between Two Mickeys

Robert Pattinson plays two versions of Mickey simultaneously — a challenging acting task in which he subtly differentiates Mickey 17 from Mickey 18. Playing two characters simultaneously with microdifferences is among the most challenging recent work in his career. Mark Ruffalo as the colonial leader is drawn as an exaggerated authoritarian reminiscent of Trump, reinforcing the film’s black comedy character. Steven Yeun and Naomi Ackie are stable in their respective positions.

What the film says — Is a Clone the Same Being

The central question of Mickey 17 is simple. Is a clone with the same genes and same memories the same being, or not? And what does it mean for that being to be repeatedly consumed? Bong Joon-ho combines this philosophical question with class critique. How does the distinction between beings who may die and those who must not die operate? If Parasite used the reality of Korean social class as its stage, this time the metaphor is expanded to a cosmic scale.

Ratings & reception

TMDB score is 6.8. IMDb is 6.7. Rotten Tomatoes freshness is 78% — a fresh rating — and the Metacritic score is 72. There were reviews noting that the combination of comedy and sci-fi in this Bong Joon-ho film was somewhat bold, while others felt that same combination was its appeal. Box office results were outpaced by critical reception.

What doesn’t work

There are assessments that much of the source novel’s world-building has been omitted. The film’s rhythm weakens at certain points in the back half, and the resolution of the conflict between the two Mickeys feels somewhat rushed. Viewers expecting a Bong Joon-ho-style twist or shocking finale may find the ending within the range of predictability. Compared to the impact of Parasite, some assessments find the impact less strong.

Verdict

Mickey 17 is evidence that Bong Joon-ho, with Hollywood-scale budget, still wants to tell his own stories. The process of a being treated as disposable trying to prove its own value, intertwined with class critique, is a continuation of Parasite — but the space setting expands that metaphor to a much wider scale. It exists at a remove from commercial sci-fi blockbusters, and that tilted direction is also the film’s greatest appeal. The problem of identity and self-awareness arising from two Mickeys coexisting is the element that elevates the film beyond simple entertainment.

Recommended for

• Fans of Bong Joon-ho’s previous films
• Viewers who enjoy sci-fi mixed with black comedy
• Those interested in Robert Pattinson’s experimental performance work