South Korean filmmaker Bong Joon-ho returns nearly six years after his Best Picture-winning Parasite (2019) with Mickey 17, adapted from the 2022 novel Mickey 7 by Edward Ashton. The road for the space epic has been bumpy, to say the least. Filmed in late 2022 and initially set for release in April 2024, Warner Bros. has delayed the film multiple times. An odd way to handle a project from a director whose last film made history as the first international feature to win Best Picture. The delay may have been caused by something as simple as Bong’s desire for the film to be showcased on premium screens. However, after watching Mickey 17, it seems clear that Warner Bros. had low confidence in the nearly $120 million project recouping its costs.
Mickey 17 sees Bong pivoting hard away from the grounded nature of Parasite into the ridiculous and satirical. Unabashedly absurd, it feels more akin to his earlier works like Okja (2017) and The Host (2006). Mickey 17 is a political satire mixed with a sci-fi monster movie. The result is a somewhat inconsistent but always exciting romp that will be hard to forget.
Robert Pattinson stars as the titular Mickey, a man on the run from a mob shark after a failed foray into the macaron business who signs up to be an “expendable” pseudo-guinea pig for a human colony expedition led by disgraced senator Kenneth Marshall (Mark Ruffalo) and his wife (Toni Collette) to the ice planet Niflheim. Every time Mickey dies, his memories are cloned into a new body. Mickey is gassed, poisoned, and burned by the colonists repeatedly until he is cloned into his 17th iteration.
On Niflheim, Mickey and the human explorers encounter an alien species they call the “Creepers”—cute, furry, caterpillar-like creatures that continue to show Bong’s love for large CGI monsters. The environmental themes are compelling, but they don’t always feel fully integrated into the initial narrative. The introduction of the Creepers presents a fascinating allegory for coexistence with nature. However, the film struggles to connect their story with Mickey’s.
Bong’s direction is filled with confidence and creativity, tiptoeing on a high wire of absurdity. The science fiction world he crafts evokes similar feelings of dirtiness and decay seen in Snowpiercer, but rather than feeling derived, it plays as a self-aware riff on his aesthetic. The grimy, industrial look of the colony enhances the film’s satirical edge, turning the worn-down future into both a visual gag and a critique of systemic exploitation. This is easily his most comedic film, but it never loses its message. Bong’s talent for blending satire with social critique ensures that even the film’s messier elements remain engaging. Much like Snowpiercer and Okja, Mickey 17 thrives in its absurdity, using its heightened world to make biting observations about power and greed.
Pattinson continues to impress with his range as a performer as he plays multiple clones with polar opposite personalities. Mickey 17 is diffident and sweet, while Mickey 18 is headstrong and temperamental. The ridiculousness of the characters allows Pattinson to go crazy, delivering two very different but equally entertaining performances.
The biggest triumph of Mickey 17 is its characterization. Bong’s films continue to resonate because of his ability to infuse a sense of humanity into his protagonists. While Mickey, in his many iterations, is a bizarre weirdo, Bong never portrays him as anything but well-intentioned. Mickey 17 has a lot to say, but at its core, it’s about a regular person toiling in a terrible job to benefit those with wealth and power. It remains deeply relatable. That relatability is also what makes the film’s surprising romantic comedy element so effective. Amid Mickey’s endless suffering, his relationship with Nasha, a security officer played by Naomi Ackie, provides a much-needed emotional anchor. Bong smartly keeps their romance simple and sincere. Pattinson and Ackie’s natural chemistry enhances this as they play off each other with sharp comedic timing.
Mickey 17 is an ambitious, often messy, but always compelling addition to Bong Joon-ho’s filmography. While its thematic intersections don’t always fully coalesce, its mix of biting satire, sci-fi spectacle, and dark comedy make for a wildly entertaining ride. Anchored by Robert Pattinson’s dynamic performance and Bong’s directorial signature flair, Mickey 17 might not be as universally accessible as Parasite, but it proves once again that Bong is a filmmaker unafraid to take risks.
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