Mickey 17 is a sci-fi comedy, and social commentary film that was released on March 7th, 2025. This film was overseen and managed by Korean director Bong Joon Ho. The main cast is Robert Pattinson, (quite possibly the love of my life), Naomi Ackie, Steven Yeun, Toni Collette, and Mark Ruffalo. The plot follows a parodic political leader who has moved himself, and many followers onto a spaceship where they will, in a few years, hopefully land on a livable planet, and restart society from the ground up, according to the plans of disgraced politician Kenneth Marshall. This article is going to contain spoilers as it goes over the complete plot.
The movie opens with the backstory of Mickey, the protagonist. Timo, played by Steven Yeun, attempts to start a macaron business, and drags Mickey into it. However, they get involved with some very dangerous loan sharks, and quickly flee to the spaceship. It’s there that we learn Mickey was on the spaceship as an ‘expandable’, which he did not research before. This means that his body has been frozen, and every time he dies, he is reprinted from the organic waste on the ship, and his new memories are uploaded. Because of this unique advantage, Mickey is often put into dangerous situations, including exploring the new frozen planet they’ve landed on. It is there that Mickey (version 17) is left, assumedly going to die. To his surprise, he is saved by some of the native life there, returning him to the ship. He begins to realize he has already been reprinted. Mickey 18 having taken his place. This is strictly prohibited by expandable laws, after a man used the advantage of multiples to get away with murder.
Nasha, the corresponding love interest to Mickey, quickly finds the new expandable and starts to bond with him. Each version of Mickey is slightly different, but 18 is described as violent and almost sadistic. When she realizes there are two, she insists that they must get along and hide from Mr. & Mrs. Marshall. Mr. Marshall holds a meeting, showing off a large shiny rock they took from the surface of the earth, oblivious to the small creature behind him. Mickey 18, in a fit of rage and disobedience, shoots Mr. Marshall, but ends up only grazing his cheek. Chaos ensues, and one of the creatures is shot. The other surviving creature is taken to the center of the ship, and is being held for experiments. They try to push the blame onto Mickey for trying to shoot the small creature that was behind Mr. Marshall, but the expendables are quickly arrested and held in the middle of the spaceship. We see that the native species, creepers, are beginning to crowd underneath the ship, recognizing that one of their own has been taken. A team of scientists tell Mickey they have a device that could help facilitate communication.
Mrs. Marshall crafts a strange plan, saying that the two Mickey’s will both exit the ship, and use a knife to take off the tails of the native Creepers. Whoever returns with the most tails will survive, the other will be sentenced to death. However, the Mickeys,’ instead, coordinate to end the life of Kenneth Marshall. Mickey 18 realizes that in order to end Marshall’s life, he will have to end his own. He bites the bullet, and we see the expandable machine dismantled and banned.
The film is an amazing watch at surface level, as just a science fiction film, but the more you dive into the symbolism in the media, it gets more intriguing. Director Bong Joon Ho says that he did not have a specific person in mind, and based Mark Ruffalo’s character off of many dictators from the past and present. However, many people draw parallels with the symbolism of red hats, Marshall’s mannerisms, the assassination attempt, and more, to current world leaders. In my opinion, the media provides political commentary that is very viable in modern day society. This movie is an easy 10/10 for me, and I will definitely watch it again. I also now definitely will be looking out for more films from this director.
