Bong Joon-ho and Robert Pattinson's Mickey 17 Is One Messy Trip to Space: Review

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04-03-2025

The post Bong Joon-ho and Robert Pattinson's Mickey 17 Is One Messy Trip to Space: Review appeared first on Consequence.
The Pitch: If Mickey Barnes (Robert Pattinson) was on Earth, you'd say he had the worst job on Earth. However, he works in space as an 'Expendable' — a man who's agreed to be killed and 'reprinted' infinitely on a colonization expedition to the far-off planet Nilfheim. When we first meet Mickey, he's Mickey 17, having been killed 16 previous times while completing hazardous tasks or in the name of scientific experimentation. But the not-so-bright Mickey doesn't mind it that much. If nothing else, he's in love with a fellow crewmate, the fierce but loyal Nasha (Naomi Ackie), who gives him reason to live (and then live again).
When a planet-side mission doesn't end up killing him (for once), Mickey 17 returns back to his ship, only to discover that a new Mickey has already been printed — a major violation of the rules about reprinting humans. That's only one of the problems Mickey's got, though, thanks to the despotic failed politician and wife (Mark Ruffalo, Toni Collette) running this operation, and the real dangers of the planet outside…
Director Bong's Blank Check? It's been over five years since the groundbreaking Oscar wins of Bong Joon-ho's Parasite, building up no shortage of anticipation about what the singular South Korean director might tackle next. Mickey 17 probably isn't the follow-up anyone was really expecting, though — an often wild, narratively messy sci-fi comedy that definitely feels like it got re-edited a whole bunch between filming and release.
As one example of said re-editing: It's never a great sign when the protagonist narrates what's going on over a scene where two characters are having an inaudible conversation — a conversation that was clearly audible in the original cut of the movie. That's how the movie ends up introducing us to Mickey's lover Nasha, entirely as a support system for Mickey as he goes through his unending cycle of life and death. She's one of several characters who feels like more of a sketch than a fully realized human.
Lost in Space: To her credit, Naomi Ackie's game and committed in her performance as Nasha, like pretty much everyone else who showed up to play. It's an ensemble filled with people making big, sometimes huge choices — like every single line delivery from Mark Ruffalo. As Kenneth Marshall, the expedition's leader, Ruffalo unlocks a level of previously undiscovered cartoonishness, which plays in fascinating if unbalanced contrast to Toni Collette's unhinged work as his wife and ally.
Meanwhile, Steven Yeun's role as Mickey's friend from home (and also the reason Mickey's in this mess) feels like it was the one most cut down, to the point where you can't really say he has all that much of a character arc. Oh, except there's also Holliday Grainger as one of the chief architects of the human printing technology, who gets a few unhinged moments that hint at a much darker, much stranger movie than the final product.
Mickey 17 (Warner Bros.)
Copy and Paste It's fascinating to look back over Robert Pattinson's past roles, which feature a remarkable percentage of fascinating freaks in freaky situations — even when playing literal Bruce Wayne in The Batman, Pattinson found a way to bring out the superhero's inner Orin from Parks and Recreation. So of course he based the voices of Mickey 17 and Mickey 18 on Ren and Stimpy. Why wouldn't he?
Truthfully, it's a testament to Pattinson's skills as an actor that 17 and 18 both feel like very distinct individuals; it's easy to accept the artifice of him playing two separate characters in a way that hasn't always been the case with actors acting opposite themselves. More importantly, Pattinson doesn't let the stranger elements of the story overwhelm Mickey's simple yet sweet nature — across multiple iterations, he's a character to root for, a true testament to Pattinson's talents. He might consistently resist the temptation to go the traditional movie star route, but that movie star charisma cannot be contained.
The Verdict: Mickey 17 is at its best when director Bong really leans into exploring the dirty details of blue-collar space exploration: The spaceship sets are grimy, lived-in, and factory-like and the human-printing technology is a janky 3-D printer on a whole new scale, almost making noises like an old dot-matrix machine as it spits out copy after copy of Mickey. And Mickey's many deaths are depicted with a slapstick glee that epitomizes the best kind of black comedy.
Yet there are numerous plotting issues throughout the movie — as just one example, there's a sequence in which characters lie down to commit forbidden acts of debauchery with the door to their cabin left open. If it were a rushed act of passion, maybe it'd make sense, but in the context of the film it just makes the viewer question the common sense of everyone involved.
It's not that Mickey 17 is an aberration for Bong — three of his past seven movies have dwelled in the realm of oddball sci-fi. But as mentioned earlier, it feels like the movie that he shot is much stranger and darker than the movie actually being released, its weirder moments sanded away for a mainstream release.
The movie thus ends up being a little disappointing, in a way that it wouldn't be if Mickey 17 were directed by a less noteworthy director after a less noteworthy period of years. The existential elements of the premise, you can tell, were the big draw for Bong. But beyond Mickey confirming that no matter how often he does it, he still hates dying, it's unclear what Bong is trying to say about life. Beyond the fact that it beats the alternative.
Where to Watch: Mickey 17 blasts off into theaters on Friday, March 7th.
Trailer:
Bong Joon-ho and Robert Pattinson's Mickey 17 Is One Messy Trip to Space: Review Liz Shannon Miller
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