Berlinale 2025: Bong Joon-ho’s ‘Mickey 17’ is Sharp Sci-Fi Wackiness
by Alex Billington
February 15, 2025
“You’re an expendable! You’re here to be expended.” Perhaps we shouldn’t consider any life as expendable. Bong Joon-ho’s long-awaited new science fiction movie is finally here and finally ready to be experienced. This big budget, made-by-Hollywood sci-fi spectacle doesn’t really belong at film festivals but hey I’ll let it slide because it’s worth watching anywhere. Mickey 17 is Bong Joon-ho’s newest feature film project since winning all the Oscars with Parasite in 2019; it’s adapted from the sci-fi novel titled “Mickey7” written by Edward Ashton. Bong upped the number of Mickey clones from 7 to 17 just for fun because 7 wasn’t enough, to add in more clones to this futuristic story. Bong Joon-ho’s other English-language science fiction movie Snowpiercer played at the 2014 Berlin Film Festival (I was there, too – read my original review) and now they’ve invited him back to the 2025 Berlin Film Festival to screen Mickey 17. There is nothing “chaotic” about this movie at all, it’s occasionally wacky and funky and weird, but it’s still a sharp, streamlined story about clones. This is Bong Joon-ho’s Starship Troopers. It rules – and it’s even better than Snowpiercer.
Mickey 17 is written and directed by Bong Joon-ho, adapted directly from Edward Ashton’s book (he gets the second credit in the end credits just after Bong). Robert Pattinson stars as Mickey Barnes, a nobody kid from Earth who decides to sign up to be an “expendable” on a space mission to colonize a new planet in hopes of escaping his debt and the loan sharks after him. Bong Joon-ho is a big fan of making anti-capitalist movies (e.g. Parasite, Snowpiercer, Okja) and this is yet another one that makes fun of the fascist capitalist ideology, plus the rich schmucks who must rule over everyone, and the way capitalism makes most people expendable. Literally. Mickey’s body and brain is scanned by this futuristic device that can reproduce copies of him on demand. He’s cloned endlessly – they send him out on dangerous missions, when something bad happens to him (anything), they “reprint” another copy of him, upload his brain scan & memories, and he’s right back out working another day. The Mickey 17 title card drops in this story right when there’s a hiccup. The 17th version of Mickey doesn’t exactly die, he makes it back to the ship alive, but they already reprinted the next copy of him and so he encounters his duplicate. They refer to them as “multiples” – Pattinson plays both Mickey 17 & Mickey 18 as they run around and realize what is going on and how they’re being used by a psychotic, narcissistic politician / CEO named Kenneth Marshall – played oh so perfectly by Mark Ruffalo.
This movie isn’t an intricate, dark, complex thriller like Bong’s earlier films set in South Korea, instead it’s a wacky, amusing, funky sci-fi story about clones & idiots & humanity’s carelessness. It really reminds me of Starship Troopers in many ways in how it creatively depicts the fascist systems that maintain order amongst humans while also offering up an extremely entertaining story about a guy trying to figure out his place in these systems. Mickey 17 is somewhat rebellious, but at the same time he’s a bit too dumb to try and bring down the whole thing. Bong also references Okja and Hayao Miyazaki by introducing a cute, cuddly, insect-like creature they encounter on the ice planet called Niflheim. These things look a lot like the Ohmu insects from Miyazaki’s Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, and after an encounter with some of them, Mickey 17 realizes they’re not exactly evil or dangerous, they’re rather peaceful and docile as long as they’re not under attack. Like most creatures on this planet, too. But of course they also don’t like the humans who are there to colonize this planet which is their home. These creatures play an integral part in the story in the second half, and humanity doesn’t quite understand them (or want to) – much like the “bugs” in Starship Troopers. There’s some clever commentary involving how Mickey interacts with them, but it’s mostly just Bong Joon-ho doing his usual thing saying maybe we shouldn’t harm animals and instantly think attempt to eradicate them. We should find out how to peacefully coexist with them, similar to the big pig-cow things in Okja, too.
Robert Pattinson continues to prove how exceptionally creative and versatile he is always as an all-around actor taking on many extraordinarily unique roles. His voice acting in this movie will surely be mentioned in every single review – some will hate it, some will love it – but I believe it’s an impressive and distinct choice that makes this movie and his performance stand apart from everything else. It’s wacky – but wacky in the right ways, especially once you understand that this shrill voice is actually connected to the personality of Mickey 17, because all of the clones have a unique voice. There are a few other performers in this massive ensemble cast that also stand out: Patsy Ferran as a young scientist named Dorothy who also works on the spaceship, she’s wonderful and charming in here. Naomi Ackie as Mickey’s lover Nasha is amazing, taking on this simple supporting role and turning it into something much more meaningful and powerful. Michael Monroe as one of Kenneth Marshall’s underlings is hilarious. Of course both Mark Ruffalo and Steven Yeun are super kooky and fun in their respective roles. Bong once again shows he’s a master of ensemble performances, wrangling up this huge cast of international actors with each one feeling unique & amusing. He’s having fun with this movie, it’s meant to be goofy, and clearly so is the entire cast. They’re all in, too.
I may not have walked out of Mickey 17 feeling as high on cinema as I did walking out of Parasite for the first time at Cannes 2019. But the more I let this movie sit with me and the more I mull it over, the more its growing on me. I’m already looking forward to revisiting much of what happens in the first half, it seems incredibly rewatchable. I already want to buy a plushie version of the big bug creatures on Niflheim. And I want everyone to watch it just because it’s a smart movie that’s also a very fun movie. It’s a unique movie that is also entirely entertaining, not too abstract or confusing. Even if this isn’t another Best Picture winner like Parasite, I’m more than happy with Bong Joon-ho having fun with this follow-up, playing around with lots of Hollywood money, telling another anti-capitalist story about befriending creatures on another planet.
Alex’s Berlinale 2024 Rating: 9 out of 10
Follow Alex on Twitter – @firstshowing / Or Letterboxd – @firstshowing
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