Mickey 17 (2025) – Hey Mickey

Released: 6th March
Seen: 23rd March

In 2020, the Oscars did something genuinely cool. For the first time in the history of the ceremony, a non-English language film won Best Picture, a moment that might be the last actually good thing to happen in 2020. The film in question, Parasite, took home four awards that night for Screenplay, Directing, International film and Best Picture. The director, Bong Joon ho, instantly became a major player and whatever film he made after Parasite was going to be a big deal so we all waited for over half a decade for his next big feature film. That film has finally come out after half a decade and as expected, Bong Joon Ho has delivered something truly spectacular in his latest work, Mickey 17.

Mickey 17 takes place in 2054 when a new colony is being formed in space under the total rule of the hyper-charismatic but also evil political figure Kenneth Marshall (Mark Ruffalo). For a space colony to function several major positions need to be filled and one of those is the role of an ‘expendable’, a person whose job is to be put in lethal situations and used as a test dummy before being reborn thanks to a giant people printer. This is the job that’s been given to Mickey (Robert Pattinson), a low-class guy who needed the job in order to help him pay off a debt he incurred while trying to build a business. Things are going well, Mickey’s doing his job, dying repeatedly and being reborn until he ends up accidentally being reprinted while still alive, creating an illegal multiple of himself which can only lead to bad things in his future.

Much like the director’s previous film, Mickey 17 tackles some heavy issues of class and fascism except this time the reins have been taken off and Bong Joon Ho has been given permission to make a cartoon about how much it sucks being a low-class worker bee serving the whims of a megalomaniac with bad hair and makeup. From the very start, Mickey is a lot more lighthearted and playful with its material and is down to go for the goofy stuff. There are a lot more slapstick moments, the performances are a little more extreme, and the visuals are heightened as much as they can be without just throwing in wacky sound effects. It’s going for a lot more of a broad appeal than Parasite was and its tone makes it a lot easier to go along with.

It’s also somewhat timely with a major character being a creepy weirdly charismatic fascist dictator who cares more about his own wealth and status than he does about the people who rely on him. Kenneth Marshall is such a detestable character that it’s honestly just a lot of fun to watch people fight against him. Sure, the film-makers might claim he’s an amalgamation of many different fascist leaders throughout history but we all know who the biggest influence on this character is, they literally paint him an orangey colour later on in the movie because it’s so obviously a Trump analogue that it’s kind of hilarious. Its bluntness is its power though because you can’t help but laugh at the fascistic fuckwad flapping about the ship trying to get everyone on board with his grand plans to destroy a perfectly harmless bunch of creatures who live on a planet he wants to colonise and sometimes it’s good to laugh at fascistic fuckwads (especially now when a bright orange fascist fuckwad with thin skin is getting away with so much).

That pointed ribbing of fascist leaders runs throughoutMickey 17, and if the film isn’t mocking it it’s trying to make sure you notice just how big the divide is between the workers and those in charge. The workers eat grey slop that’s highly calorie controlled and could be taken from them any second while the leaders eat steak in a brightly coloured room with beautiful music in the background, it doesn’t dance around how those at the bottom are treated by those at the top. The film might as well just have a guy in a pigeon suit walk into the middle of the screen with a sign that says “Hey, any leader who behaves like this is a bad person who you should probably do something about”, it is that blunt.

What holds Mickey 17 together is the incredible lead performance by Robert Pattinson who plays every iteration of Mickey and each one feels different enough that you can tell them apart but similar enough to sell the idea that they’re all clones of the same person. It’s a magical balancing act that only a few truly gifted actors could pull off and Pattinson does it, seemingly effortlessly just because he can. He’s able to be funny, heartwarming, intimidating, caring, intense and pathetic all within the same scene and make it all just feel natural. Pattinson has turned Mickey into one of the most well-developed characters that has been put on film for ages and you can’t help but root for the guy to make it through to the end. It’s a pair of performances that bounce off each other, Robert Pattinson is his own best co-star and that’s pretty damn incredible.

In general, the combination of great performances, heightened tone, fantastic visual effects and pointed political message makes Mickey 17 a truly fascinating work of art that feels right for the modern age when a bunch of stupid people in red hats blindly follow a semi-charismatic leader with bad skin who is leading people straight to their deaths. It’s a gloriously over-the-top fun time that really shows that Bong Joon Ho is the kind of filmmaker who should just be allowed to make anything he wants whenever he wants it because cinema is better off with a filmmaker like this running about. To make the obvious reference that I have restrained myself from making this entire time, Oh Mickey 17 you’re so fine, you’re so fine you blow my mind, hey Mickey 17! HEY MICKEY 17!