Mickey 17 (2025) Review: Robert Pattinson Excels in His Winning Dual Performance in Bong Joon-Ho’s Broad Sci-Fi Satire
Mickey 17 marks the return of Bong Joon-Ho after making Oscar history as the first South Korean and even non-English language film to win Best Picture for Parasite. That movie was released six years ago and the wait seems like an eternity for his follow-up, especially given all the delays (Mickey 17 was originally scheduled to be released last March) and whatnot.
Now that it’s finally here, is it worth the wait? How I wish I could say a hard yes but it’s more of a yes and no answer. A mixed feeling, to be exact. This is especially true with the surprisingly mundane first act as we learn how Mickey Barnes (Robert Pattinson) agrees to subject himself to a cloning experiment in the first place. It all happens because of the ill-fated investment that he and his shady, no-good friend and business partner Timo (Steven Yeun) end up owing a lot of money from the loan shark.
So, they choose to flee where both of them enrol for the Nilfheim space expedition led by the tyrannical power couple Kenneth Marshall (Mark Ruffalo) and Ylfa (Toni Collette). Whereas Timo manages to con his way up to a more comfortable position as a pilot, the sad-sack Mickey signs up for a dangerous job nobody else wants to do. That job in question is being an “expendable”, which requires him to go through the re-printing process — cloning, that is — over and over again for whatever high-stakes mission he is being told to do. Think of his occupation as a lab rat except he has to “suffer” repeated death, resurrect, rinse and repeat.
And the title Mickey 17? That number refers to how many times he has died before leading up to 17. You see, on paper, it sounds like a bonkers premise with lots of potential. And yet, I’m not sure why Joon-Ho’s strangely muted direction somehow made the first act feel like a huge, missed opportunity to get me interested in the movie. I was worried this might be his rare colossal misfire.
Thankfully, Mickey 17 manages to pick up some slack in the second act once the story introduces two Mickeys: 17 and 18. How does Mickey 17 manage to survive, well, you just have to find out for yourself. But long story short, it’s against the rules to have two expendables and the only person who knows their existence so far is Mickey 17’s lover and security agent Nasha (Naomi Ackie). The comedy is pretty much a hit-or-miss affair but I do enjoy Pattinson’s playful performance pulling off dual acting duties here — one’s a cowardly Mickey 17 and the other is a bold, devil-may-care Mickey 18.
Pattinson and Ackie spark immediate on-screen chemistry from the moment they meet and it also helps that Ackie brings enough energy and charisma to her role as Nasha. Likewise, Bong Joon-Ho’s signature dark satire is on display in Mickey 17, albeit in a somewhat broad manner, covering everything from capitalism to colonisation and corruption. This can be seen within Kenneth Marshall and Ylfa’s cult-like ruling system and the way they exploit their people mainly for their own interests. There are lots of things going on in Mickey 17, which runs at a protracted 137 minutes with some scenes tending to overstay their welcome.
Joon-Ho manages to raise the stakes in the amusing, yet action-packed third act revolving around an army of varied-sized, grey cockroach-like inhabitants dubbed “creepers” against the human colony. Apart from Pattinson and Ackie, Ruffalo and Collette deliver decent support in their gleefully over-the-top performances as Kenneth Marshall and Ylfa. Steven Yeun made quite an impression playing the sneaky and self-centred Timo while the stunning Anamaria Vartolomei’s no-nonsense Kai Katz served as a perfect foil to her fellow security agent rival Nasha. Mickey 17 is far from a great Bong Joon-Ho movie that I was hoping for but it still delivers some of the auteur’s filmmaking touches that define his illustrious career.
