Mickey 17 (2025)

Mickey 17, Bong Joon-ho's first film after the Oscar winning Parasite (2019), is an enjoyable sci-fi thriller with standout performances-particularly from Robert Pattinson, who delivers a compelling and nuanced performance in the dual roles of Mickey 17 and Mickey 18. Mark Ruffalo, playing the president, is also excellent, offering a strong presence on screen alongside his wife- hilariously portrayed by Toni Collette.

However, despite generally positive reviews (and one from The Independent claiming it's a masterpiece) the film struggles to fully capture the audience’s attention in terms of emotional engagement.

Set in the near future, Mickey 17 follows the story of Mickey, a "disposable" human resource on an ambitious colonisation mission to an uninhabited planet. When humans are tasked with setting up a sustainable colony on an alien world, the humans must confront harsh environmental challenges. To mitigate losses, Mickey is cloned each time he perishes in the harsh environment, essentially creating a cycle of life, death, and rebirth.

The colonisation is led by Ruffalo’s Trumpian politician, and whilst his portrayal is effective and times highly amusing, it falls into the increasingly familiar territory of caricatured depictions of Trump, a trope that feels tired and repetitive in contemporary cinema.

While the film is visually impressive and offers an entertaining premise, it doesn’t quite succeed in creating a deep connection with its characters. The plot, which involves elements of identity, memory, and existential questions, echoes films like Moon (2009) and Edge of Tomorrow (2014), but it lacks the emotional resonance so prescient in those films. In Mickey 17, the stakes feel somewhat distant; we know it's a political satire, and despite the intriguing sci-fi concepts, the characters’ journeys don’t quite elicit the investment that they should.

Despite these issues, Mickey 17 remains a solid and thought-provoking film. The direction is excellent as you'd expect from Bong Joon-ho, but this doesn't hit the admittedly considerable heights of his best work: Memories of Murder (2003), or Parasite (2019). The film’s pacing and atmosphere are engaging, yet the lack of a deeper emotional core holds it back from becoming a truly memorable entry in the genre, and in terms of his previous filmography, Mickey 17 ends up settling somewhere just below Mother (2009). Still a solid piece of work, but at times frustratingly hollow.

Ultimately, Mickey 17 is a film that will likely be remembered for its strong performances and interesting sci-fi elements, but it’s not one that demands repeated viewings. It’s a film that sits comfortably in the realm of solid entertainment, without quite reaching the level of greatness, which might very well be the result of Bong Joon-ho being a victim of his own success over the past twenty years or so. Because he's so reliable in delivering sharp political satire, to have such an obvious figure of ridicule (in some people's eyes) as Trump it feels slightly disappointing; but again that's potentially due to the overwhelming cinematic backlash against the President, and while this isn't his best work, Mickey 17 is without doubt worth a watch. 7.2/10