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Mickey 17 finds Mickey Barnes (Robert Pattinson – Tenet, Good Time) at a financially low point in his life, leaving him feeling like he has no option but to become an ‘expendable’.
Not in the Sylvester Stallone way, however. Cloning someone is something that’s only allowed in outer space, not on Earth, and he’s used to perform tests that can’t be done on a traditional human, such as when he’s sent out to replace some wires on the outside of their spaceship, only to find they’re intact… at which point, he’s informed they want to test the effects of radiation on skin in space, leading to him accidentally losing a hand.
As you can gather, since he doesn’t actually die completely, he gets treated like crap.
All of his data is saved in a black box-type device, such that as he goes from one body to the next, he can remember everything, and in one potentially deadly situation, he’s told not to worry because, “They’ll print out a new you, tomorrow”.
We first see him in AD 2054, on the snowy Planet Niflheim – which doesn’t seem like the best place to colonise, but people are trying to leave Earth in search of a better life – having fallen down a ravine. This is Mickey no.17. Assumed to be dead, the scientists back at base print out a new one, Mickey 18, except that Mickey 17 is still around.
This expedition is led by failed politician Kenneth Marshall (Mark Ruffalo – hamming it up a bit too much, alongside Toni Collette as his wife, Ylfa), clearly trying to find a place where his lack of talent is appreciated – since he’s like an Elon Musk but without the ideas, but rather than take advantage of having multiple Mickeys, he decrees that all ‘multiples’ should be killed, which doesn’t really make any sense, but it’s the plot.
Add in Naomi Ackie (Blink Twice, Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody) as love interest Nasha, and weird creatures known as ‘Creepers’ – who look like an Armadillo with a butthole for a face, and Mickey 17 is a film with rather too much going on for its running time to be wholly successful.
The writing can be a bit hit and miss, since characters will pop up at times, as if they’re the main focus for Mickey, but then get sidelined in favour of someone else, and then pop up again quite some time later. This makes me feel this story would be better served as a TV series, rather than a movie.
Still, is was hugely enjoyable, mainly because Robert Pattinson is superb in this – especially when he’s playing two roles who have to verbally AND physically bounce off each other! As such, he really should’ve been considered in the Best Actor category at the Oscars. Seeing the competition, Adrien Brody was fine in The Brutalist, and Sebastian Stan was superb in The Apprentice (and A Different Man). I haven’t seen too much from Colman Domingo (The Madness) to decide whether he should be in the list, but while Timothée Chalamet was okay as Bob Dylan, it wasn’t an Oscar-noteworthy performance, and Ralph Fiennes was simply Ralph Fiennes in the overblown Conclave.
Additionally, I saw Mickey 17 in IMAX, primarily because the timing fitting in better with my film schedule than a non-premium screen, but while it looked great, there’s no additional aspect ratio elements in that format, nor has anything else exclusive to it, so it’s not a necessity.
NOTE: There are no mid- or post-credit scenes.
Mickey 17 is in cinemas now, and is available to pre-order on 4K Blu-ray, Blu-ray and DVD, ahead of its release date TBA.
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 137 minutes
Release date: March 7th 2025
Studio: Warner Bros
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 (ARRIRAW (6.5K))
Cinema: Odeon Trafford Centre
Rating: 8.5/10
Director: Bong Joon Ho
Producers: Dooho Choi, Dede Gardner, Bong Joon Ho, Jeremy Kleiner
Screenplay: Bong Joon Ho
Novel: Edward Ashton (“Mickey 7“)
Music: Jung Jae-il
Cast:
Mickey Barnes: Robert Pattinson
Nasha: Naomi Ackie
Dorothy: Patsy Ferran
Timo: Steven Yeun
Preston: Daniel Henshall
Kai Katz: Anamaria Vartolomei
Jennifer Chilton: Ellen Robertson
Kenneth Marshall: Mark Ruffalo
Ylfa: Toni Collette
Matthew: Michael Monroe
Arkady: Cameron Britton
Zeke: Stephen Park
Darius Blank: Ian Hanmore
Red Hair: Holliday Grainger
Pigeon Man: Tim Key
Chainsaw Guy: Christian Patterson
Underboss: Lloyd Hutchinson
Borrower: Samuel Blenkin
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.