Berlinale 2025: ‘Mickey 17’ Review
Stars: Robert Pattinson, Mark Ruffalo, Toni Collette, Steven Yeun, Naomi Ackie, Holliday Grainger | Written and Directed by Bong Joon Ho
Writer-director Bong Joon Ho (Snowpiercer) returns to futuristic sci-fi for this space exploration thriller based on the 2022 novel by Edward Ashton (entitled Mickey7). As such, it’s not without its flaws, but it’s still a lot of fun, thanks to its gleefully bonkers premise and pair of committed central performances from Robert Pattinson.
Set in the distant future, the film centres on Mickey Barnes (Pattinson), a spaceship worker who has been designated an “expendable”, so-called because his body can be re-printed and his memories restored if he dies, which he does, a lot. While on a mission to colonise a remote ice planet, Mickey’s 17th iteration (known as Mickey 17) falls down a crevasse and is presumed dead, so when he miraculously survives and returns to base camp, he’s startled to find his newly printed replacement, Mickey 18 (also Pattinson) in his bed.
Mickey’s girlfriend Nasha (Naomi Ackie) is initially delighted to discover she has two boyfriends for the price of one, but they have bigger problems on their hands because being “multiples” means that at least one of them will be executed if caught. Meanwhile, the spaceship’s aggressive coloniser, billionaire Kenneth Marshall (Mark Ruffalo) pushes ahead with plans to extinguish a race of bugs known as “Creepers” from the planet, unaware that they display signs of intelligent life.
Bong invests Mickey 17 with a manic energy, which keeps things moving at an enjoyable pace, despite the potentially punishing 139-minute running time. However, that same energy occasionally threatens the tone – the film is filled with manic, hyper-exaggerated characters, and Bong works hard to keep things from getting out of control. In the end, he just about succeeds, but it’s a close-run thing.
The film’s biggest problem is that it feels like a fair amount of it has ended up on the cutting room floor, with various subplots and seemingly significant characters (most notably Steven Yuen and Holliday Grainger) either disappearing completely or offscreen for long stretches of time. On a similar note, the script could have used a bit more focus in terms of its satire – as things stand, it’s all rather broad, not least because Ruffalo goes full-on Trump as Marshall, to a ludicrous degree. In fairness, the performance is an absolute delight and genuinely hilarious, but the cartoonishness of it detracts from the sense of genuine threat.
As for Pattinson, he’s on terrific form here, twice, and he does incredible voice work with both Mickeys, one of which sounds like Steve Buscemi. He also proves a gifted physical actor, literally throwing himself into both performances, to the point where you start worrying about the number of bruises he must have picked up on set.
In addition, there is enjoyable support from Toni Collette as Marshall’s Machiavellian wife Ylfa, while Ackie is great value as Nasha, and she gets a lot more to do than just the standard love interest role.
On top of that, the film is further heightened by some impressive special effects work (the Creepers are a lot like giant space woodlice) and typically spectacular camerawork from Darius Khondji, as well as a great score from Bong’s regular composer Jung Jae-il.
In short, Mickey 17 might not be up there with Bong’s previous masterpieces, but it’s still a lot of fun.
**** 4/5
Mickey 17 screened as part of this year’s Berlin Film Festival.
