Clone, Die, Repeat: The Existential Crisis of Mickey 17

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I walked into Mickey 17 with zero expectations no trailers, no early reviews, not even a glance at the IMDb score. Just a vague idea that it starred Robert Pattinson and was directed by Bong Joon Ho. That, honestly, was enough for me. I figured at the very least, I’d be treated to something visually interesting. What I didn’t expect was to leave the theatre still thinking about the film the next morning, especially about how deeply weird and strangely moving it turned out to be.

The Premise: Death Is Temporary, But At What Cost?

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Set in the year 2054, Mickey 17 is a sci-fi story with a twist that’s both clever and disturbing. Pattinson plays Mickey Barnes, a man known as an “Expendable.” That title alone gives you a sense of what kind of job he’s signed up for. He’s part of a mission to colonize the icy, inhospitable planet of Niflheim, and as the name suggests, his role is to handle the most dangerous tasks, basically anything where death is likely. But here’s the catch: when he dies, he gets recreated in a new body, complete with all of his memories intact.

Existence On Repeat

It’s a brilliant setup that feels a bit like Edge of Tomorrow meets Moon, but with Bong Joon Ho’s unmistakable flavour of satire and social critique layered in. Now, it’s easy to assume this ability to respawn would be an advantage. But the film quickly shows that being “reprintable” doesn't come with the respect or freedom you might expect. Mickey isn’t a hero. He’s a tool used, discarded, and brought back whenever necessary. Watching him go through this cycle, again and again, is both fascinating and painful.

Pattinson Shines In A Duality of Being

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What surprised me most was how emotionally rich the film was. Pattinson is fantastic here honestly, one of his best performances. He brings this quiet tension to Mickey, capturing a man who’s not just afraid to die, but afraid of what repeated death and resurrection is doing to his sense of self. There’s a particular scene where he stares at his previous body with both horror and indifference. It’s haunting in the way only Bong Joon Ho can make it.

But then there’s the accent 😂 While the intention was probably to add quirk, it ends up being more distracting than distinctive. It’s a shame because emotionally, he nails it—but the voice risks pulling you out of the experience every time he speaks.

A Cast That Elevates Every Scene

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The rest of the cast adds real texture to the story. Naomi Ackie plays Nasha, Mickey’s partner, who has her own reasons for staying close to him. Toni Collette and Mark Ruffalo, especially, are standouts. Ruffalo plays Marshall, the so called leader of the colony, a dictator in name, who’s so clueless and easily manipulated, he becomes one of the film’s most darkly comedic and tragic characters.

Marshall: Dictator Or Punchline?

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People have been quick to draw comparisons between Marshall and Trump, and while it’s an easy connection, Bong himself has said the character is more of a blend of past dictators from different parts of the world, including Korea. To me, Marshall represents a bigger idea: the hollow, blustering figurehead that’s propped up by people who really hold the power.

There’s one scene in particular where Marshall is dressed up for a propaganda video, holding a gun and being paraded around like a puppet. It reminded me of certain political campaigns I’ve seen over the years where the performance becomes more important than policy.

Hot Sauce And Dark Satire

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Speaking of sharp satire, there’s a running joke in the movie about Ylfa trying to invent a new kind of sauce that becomes strangely central to the plot. It sounds absurd, and it is, but it’s also a sly take on how personal ambition can twist priorities. In one scene, while chaos brews around them, Ylfa is obsessively whispering to Marshall about her sauce, using her proximity to power to push her culinary dreams forward. It’s so ridiculous, it actually works.

The Dream Scene and Tech Gone Mad

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The dream sequence towards the end, where Marshall gets reprinted, was probably the most terrifying moment in the film. Not because it was traditionally scary, but because it showed how this technology, this miracle of rebirth can be used by those in charge for the worst possible reasons. It’s not about preserving life, it’s about preserving power. And when that power lies in the hands of the rich, desperate, and deluded, the future looks bleak.

A World Built with Chilling Precision

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Visually, Mickey 17 is stunning. The icy landscapes of Niflheim feel cold and isolating, a perfect backdrop for the story’s existential themes. The tech design is sleek without being overdone, and the scenes of Mickey’s “reprinting” process are both mesmerizing and disturbing. Bong Joon Ho has always been a master of creating fully lived in worlds whether it’s the snow covered train in Snowpiercer or the brutal class divide in Parasite. Here, he gives us a future that feels just familiar enough to be unsettling.

It’s Sci-Fi, But Deeply Human

While the sci-fi elements demand some suspension of disbelief (yes, you’ll have questions about how the reprinting works), the emotional beats are strong enough to carry you through. I didn’t find myself picking apart the logistics because I was too invested in Mickey’s journey.

Final Thoughts: Weird, Witty, and Worth Watching

By the end of the film, I was left with a mix of emotions, unease, admiration, and a strange sense of empathy for a character who’s technically not even human anymore. That’s the power of Mickey 17. It makes you care about someone whose very existence is treated like a commodity. And it does so with moments of humor, horror, and heartbreaking honesty.

Came in with few expectations but was still hoping for something great. Bong Joon Ho’s Snowpiercer and Parasite were genre defining films and Mickey 17, for all it’s ambition, doesn’t quite hit those heights.

That said, there’s still enough here to make it worth a watch if only to see Pattinson wrestle with identity, death, and that ridiculous accent. Just don’t expect the next Interstellar or Arrival. This one’s more of a bizarre, occasionally brilliant, slightly bloated clone of better sci-fi.

Would I watch it again? Maybe. Would I recommend it? Depends how patient you are with sci-fi that overpromises and under delivers.