Mickey 17 (2025)

Bong Joon-ho doesn't make small films. After Parasite won everything, he could have played it safe. Instead, he made Mickey 17 -- a sci-fi comedy about corporate colonialism, expendable labor, and what happens when you meet yourself.

Robert Pattinson plays Mickey Barnes, an "expendable" on a deep-space colonization mission. His job: die doing dangerous tasks so the colony doesn't lose anyone important. After each death, he's reprinted from a backup with most of his memories intact. He's on life number 17 when things go sideways.

What Works

Pattinson is electric. He plays both Mickey 17 and Mickey 18 (an accidental duplicate), and the two versions of the same person couldn't be more different. One is beaten down and compliant. The other is reckless and free. Watching them share scenes is the most fun you'll have at the movies this month.

Bong's world-building is meticulous. The colony ship feels lived-in. The alien ice planet is gorgeous and hostile. The corporate hierarchy that values colonists by their replaceability is satire so sharp it draws blood.

Mark Ruffalo's performance as the mission commander is wildly unhinged in the best way. He's playing a fascist buffoon with such commitment that you forget he's Mark Ruffalo.

What Doesn't

The pacing stumbles in the second act. There's a subplot involving the native ice creatures that needed either more screen time or less. It sits in an awkward middle ground where you can feel the studio notes.

The ending wraps up too neatly for a film that spent two hours questioning whether anything can be resolved. Bong's usual precision gets a bit blurry in the final twenty minutes.

The Verdict

Mickey 17 isn't Parasite. It's messier, louder, and less controlled. But it's also wildly entertaining, visually stunning, and has more ideas per scene than most films have in their entire runtime. Pattinson alone is worth the ticket price.

Go see it. Let it be weird.