Mickey 17

Starring: Robert Pattinson, Steven Yeun, Mark Ruffalo, Naomi Ackie, Toni Collette, Anamaria Vartolomei, Holliday Granger, Patsy Ferran, Cameron Britton, Ian Hanmore, Bronwyn James
Directed by: Bong Joon Ho
Rating: R
Genre: Comedy, Science Fiction, Drama
2025

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: Mickey (Robert Pattinson) is an "Expendable", on a space-facing journey to a new planet. When he dies, his memories and body are reconstructed into a new form.

Review:

Tim: I felt a decent amount of excitement for Mickey 17. Bong Joon Ho is a tremendous director and him tackling a comedic sci-fi film felt like the right combination at the right time. Unfortunately, despite wanting to love this movie, I couldn't even like it. Oh yes, it has multiple strengths- but the film as a whole always feels less than the sum of its parts. I don't think it quite works as the allegory it intends to. It's not consistently funny. We don't really connect well with the characters. This is a movie that looks tremendous on paper, but the reality is significantly lower than that. That's a shame.

As a whole, I enjoyed the quirkiness of the plot. This is a dramedy for sure. There are some funny moments throughout the film, but it's not consistently funny. This is even more of an issue when the film is 2 hours and 17 minutes. That's substantially too long for the story it has to tell. The movie needed serious editing. Without that, the whole thing goes on way too long and since we're not laughing as much as we should, it ends up being a bit of a drag. Bong Joon Ho has a message he wants to deliver, but never quite delivers it. The social commentary about Expendables, about arrogant, disconnected politicians, about people in power ignoring scientists- all these things and more are especially relevant in 2025. The themes are here, but they're never delivered in a coherent, clear fashion. I got the broad strokes of what Bong Joon Ho wanted to say, but the message is muddled. It feels like the script got distracted at various points in the film.

I do need to say that I have zero criticism for Robert Pattinson. I feel so badly that he delivered top notch performances in a film that didn't live up to his standard. Pattinson has done a terrific job of finding roles like this- and he gets to showcase his considerable talent here. He really plays two different roles as the film progresses, and it's wild to see how different his performance is in each case. If you're trying to find an example of an actor showing range, this is it. What he does on screen is odd, unexpected, but always believable. I thought his performance throughout this film was truly excellent- it's the best part of the whole film. I'm so glad I watched this movie, primarily to see Pattinson bringing this character(s) to life.

The supporting cast is a bit uneven. I love Mark Ruffalo, but I strongly disliked his performance here. It felt so disconnected from anything real. He's way too cartoonish and over-the-top. There's no subtlety in his performance, and so it becomes a caricature, instead of anything real. I mostly despised his scenes. Toni Collette is a little better, but she annoys me under normal circumstances, so it was aggravating to see her in a purposely annoying role. She is a bit more under control than Ruffalo, but her character drags the movie down. I wasn't a fan of Ruffalo or Collette here. I could contrast this with Steven Yeun- he also plays a purposely unlikable character, but he does so in a way that feels authentic. I believed his character. You could see why his slimy character still tricked people- he's charismatic in his sociopathic way. Yeun was excellent in this role.

I also didn't love the performance of Naomi Ackie. She gets a lot of screen time, but it just never clicked for me. I didn't get why Mickey cared about her, I didn't see why people had so much respect for her character. I think a good deal of it comes down to Ackie's performance. It felt like she hit the wrong notes as the character and didn't give the audience a reason to care about her. On the other hand, I thought Anamaria Vartolomei was tremendous- she conveys this ambiguous vulnerability that made you at least interested in her character. She felt like a standout, an actress that takes a small role and elevates it, makes it feel even more important than it was. I was really impressed with her. I also loved seeing Holliday Granger here- I've been a huge fan of her work on C.B. Strike and I love that she got to play a role in a Bong Joon Ho movie. Unfortunately, she's pretty limited in what she gets to do. When I consider the whole cast, it feels very mixed- some great performances, some bad ones. That's never a recipe for a great film.

Perhaps most difficult for me was that I never really cared about any of the characters in this film. Mickey 17 is a memorable character, but I never loved him. The supporting characters are all crazy and unique and quirky, but I felt no connection with them. For a movie as long as this one, we needed a much deeper investment in the characters. The film throws a lot at the audience, but without a strong foundation of emotional connection, none of those things are amplified. This is a crazy, unexpected movie- but it never really delivers on its promises. Mickey 17 is decent- it does take huge swings and some of its ambition pays off. Sadly, though, too much misses the mark. This is a decent film, but I mostly lament that Bong Joon Ho doesn't quite achieve what he set out to achieve. This is one of the weaker films of his I've seen.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6.5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Snowpiercer, Parasite, High Life