Mickey 17 Review (Film, 2025)

Content warning: foul language, sexual content, medical/surgical content, gun violence, gore, violence against women, political content

Mickey 17 is going to die. Same as Mickey 16, Mickey 15, all the way to Mickey Prime before him. Mickey 17 is a Disposable, a crew asset whose memories get saved on a brick of a hard drive every week so they can be reimplanted into a new computer-printed body when the current Mickey inevitably dies. It beats being tracked down by a murderous loan shark on Earth.

Mickey 17 is a deeply satirical and weird science fiction film from Academy Award-winning writer/director Bong Joon Ho (Parasite, The Host, Snowpiercer, etc.). This bizarre, almost-dystopian film about a space colonization mission led by a failed politician with a cult-like following is funny, disturbing, and thought-provoking in equal measure.

For example, how does one justify the destruction of human life through experimentation like Mickey faces through his many lifetimes just because his memories can be printed into a new copy that is and isn’t Mickey? It’s the cloning debate from the 90s on steroids. Everyone has different ideas of how to ethically use the Disposables, but they’re ultimately treated as property of whatever company offers them the contract. It goes much further than that, but their existence in the universe is controversial on its face, let alone how they are being used in the lawless world of outer space travel.

Robert Pattinson gives the finest performance of his career as the various Mickeys. This is part of where the satire and ethical debate start to take over. Each Mickey, despite being based on the memories of the previous Mickey, is a unique Mickey. Mickey 17 has a different voice, walk, personality, and relationship to other people.

For example, Naomi Ackie is a scene-stealer as Nasha, a security agent who falls in love with Mickey Prime at the start of the mission. She loves Mickey in all his forms, but she has a particularly strong bond with Mickey 17. Nasha is one of the few characters to recognize and celebrate Mickey’s humanity despite being a recycled and reprinted form of human life. Through the different flashbacks, you can see how her relationship with different Mickeys has slightly different dynamics. Mickey has all of Mickey’s memories, and Mickey loves Nasha, but the Mickey he currently is is still different from all the Mickeys who came before him.

Another great example is Steven Yeun’s Timo, a pilot on the mission who convinced Mickey to get involved with the loan shark on Earth. Timo and Mickey have been friends forever, but you can see the dynamic shift over time between them. Timo fully embraces that MIckey will always be Mickey, in the exact physical form he was when he signed the contract. Yeun’s Timo becomes more and more reckless in their friendship over time, taking advantage of Mickey’s ability to be regenerated at the press of a button. It’s ok to him if his best friend dies because his best friend will be back to his original form in a matter of hours. Different Mickeys view this dynamic shift in different ways, creating some great tension going into the second act of the film.

I’m trying not to spoil the main plotlines of Mickey 17 here. This film is a journey on its own beyond the social commentary and brilliant world building Bong Joon Ho is known for. I encourage any science fiction fan to watch it, especially anyone who enjoyed Joon Ho’s previous films. 

Mickey 17 is currently playing in theaters.