‘Mickey 17’ Review: No Such Thing As Too Many Robert Pattinsons

Five years after his historic Oscar wins for Parasite, director Bong Joon Ho has returned with an adaptation of a goofy science fiction epic that blends his two English language films Snowpiercer & Okja’s themes together.

Mickey 17 follows Mickey Barnes (Robert Pattinson), who after a series of unfortunate circumstances and a run in with a loan shark looking to collect, decides to leave Earth with his only friend, Timo (Steven Yeun), and join a colonization expedition off-world. The only catch to this solution is that he has applied to become an “expendable”, a worker who is put on suicide missions that will have their body reprinted with their memories and personality intact if they unfortunately (most likely*) die. After sixteen deaths, Barnes has grown sick of his profession, only when another body gets reprinted, he finally decides to take a stand against his fascist Colony leader, Kenneth Marshall (Mark Ruffalo), whose character is sure to remind plenty of audiences of a certain political leader in our reality…

Life with the colony isn’t all too bad, besides the mushy fake food, alien monsters waiting to consume your entire body, and a dictatorship running the show, Mickey soon meets Nasha (Naomi Ackie), who seems to be the only level-headed person on the spacecraft. The pair quickly fall in love in what is probably the most romantic montage I’ve seen in quite some time. However, that’s not all the romance there is onboard as leader Kenneth Marshall has brought along his hilariously eccentric wife, Ylfa (Toni Collette), who loves sauces almost as much as her pathetic husband. 

During Mickey 17’s thirty-minute cold open, it becomes very apparent early on that this is a pitch-black dark comedy. We are treated to seeing all of the different Mickey’s deaths as Pattinson’s dorky voice informs the audience of his predicament, whether it be from radiation poisoning that leads to his hand being accidentally severed, to breathing air on their newly discovered planet Niflheim that contains a deadly virus, or eating artificial meat that causes a painful death, all of it is done for laughs. With a legendary filmmaker like Bong Joon Ho in control, this film makes sure it has more in store for audiences than hilarious deaths. Which, in 2025, feels like a breath of fresh air as a problem a lot of studios have nowadays, is making their film rely on one gag for the two-hour runtime which becomes tedious within the first half hour (Novocaine).

But that’s not the case here, yes, there are sixteen hilarious Pattinson deaths, but there’s more under the surface to the film as we meet the adorably gigantic worm/caterpillar-like creatures that Marshall dubs, “Creepers.” What was a funny dark comedy about capitalism and workers being exploited for the gains of the wealthy quickly becomes a heartwarming story about animal rights and class division, which isn’t a far cry from Joon Ho’s other English language films. What makes Mickey 17 so great is how well these themes go hand and hand with one another, and it feels completely relevant to today’s political climate. If a group of people are mistreated and used for capitalistic gain, who says it stops at humans and other species won’t be abused by those same people in power? 

Mickey 17 is a phenomenal time at the movies, it has plenty of laughs while managing to have a poignant and relevant message that audiences can think about long after the credits roll, while it’s not interested in subtly getting its messaging across, it doesn’t have to because it just wants you to have fun with its science fiction shenanigans. This is blockbuster filmmaking done extremely well, and I can’t wait to revisit this film more times than we see Pattinson’s dead body get thrown into an incinerator.

Mickey 17 is written and directed by Bong Joon Ho based on the novel Mickey 7 by Edward Ashton. The film stars Robert Pattinson, Naomi Ackie, Mark Ruffalo, Toni Collette, Steven Yeun, and Anamaria Vartolomei.

Mickey 17 will be distributed in theaters & IMAX by Warner Bros. Pictures on March 7, 2025. Bong Joon-ho’s next film, an animated epic about deep sea creatures, will be released later this year. 

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