Bong Joon-ho is back, and this time he’s swapping class warfare for existential dread. The Oscar-winning director behind Parasite takes a bold leap into sci-fi territory with Mickey 17, a genre-bending, darkly comic meditation on identity, labour and what it means to be human — all wrapped up in a wildly entertaining package.
Adapted from Edward Ashton’s 2022 novel Mickey7, the film stars Robert Pattinson as Mickey Barnes, a low-ranking worker on an unforgiving ice planet, where human life is cheap and clones are even cheaper. Whenever Mickey dies on the job — and it happens a lot — a fresh version is printed, memories intact, ready to pick up where the last one left off. But things get complicated when Mickey 17 is mistakenly presumed dead, only to return and find Mickey 18 already occupying his bunk, his relationships, and his sense of purpose. What follows is part existential crisis, part slapstick nightmare, with plenty of Bong’s signature tonal whiplash to keep you guessing.
Pattinson brings his usual mix of offbeat charm and vulnerability to the role of Mickey, making him equal parts tragic hero and lovable fuck-up. Naomi Ackie, playing Nasha Barridge, his romantic partner and the colony’s security officer — stuck between her feelings for Mickey and her duty to maintain order. Meanwhile, Mark Ruffalo delivers a gloriously unhinged performance as Kenneth Marshall, the colony’s Trumpian self-appointed leader, whose plans for this new world lean dangerously authoritarian. Toni Collette adds her own brand of bite as Marshall’s sharp-eyed wife, who might just be the one truly running the show.
But Mickey 17 is far more than a battle of personalities. Beneath its sci-fi spectacle and absurdist humour lies a sharp critique of how easily human lives become commodities in the pursuit of progress. Bong uses the human printing technology — essentially cloning on demand — to dig into questions of selfhood and morality. If every version of Mickey remembers dying, is he even the same person anymore? And if his suffering is part of the job description, is survival worth it at all?
Cinematographer Darius Khondji turns Niflheim into a haunting, frozen hellscape, beautiful in its desolation. The story occasionally bites off more than it can chew, cramming in side characters and thematic detours that could have used more breathing room — but Bong’s relentless creativity keeps it all moving.
Parasite might still be Bong’s masterpiece, but Mickey 17 is a worthy and wildly inventive follow-up that proves he’s just as bold in space as he is on Earth. It’s weird, messy, thoughtful, and, against all odds, kind of hopeful. In short, exactly what you’d want from Bong Joon Ho in space.
