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Managing editor & film and television critic with a Bachelor's of Arts in English Literature with a Writing Minor from the University of Guam. Currently in graduate school completing a Master's in English Literature.
Over the past few years, I’ve started noticing the range that English actor, Robert Pattinson, has in his career—the small-time criminal in Good Time, the 19th-century lighthouse keeper in Robert and Max Eggers’ The Lighthouse, the time-traveling bromance partner in Christopher Nolan’s Tenet, the young emo’ fighter in Matt Reeves’s The Batman…and of course in The Twilight Saga. What’s unique is he barely does any voice work but has more recently put in the effort in Hayao Miyazaki’s award-winning The Boy and the Heron. Similarly, I was surprised to hear Robert Pattinson lend a new voice in Mickey 17. The first teaser, released in December 2022, had done a fantastic job of, well, teasing. The plot wasn’t revealed in any way until the more recent promotional trailers of the past half-year.
Even then, if you’ve taken the time to read the source material like I have, then you would come to find a far more different adaptation. Mickey7 is hilarious because he’s dense and reckless, but Mickey 17 (Pattinson) is hilarious because he’s mindless and reckless. Mickey 17 showcases what it means to be an “average Joe” living in the universe, to fill in a role but not follow toward a larger purpose and not have any specific skills or talents. Moreover, the political conflict highlights a vast disparity between the novel and the movie, attempting to relate to the goings-on of the Western world.
Mickey 17 is written and directed by producer Bong Joon-ho (Memories of Murder, Snowpiercer, Okja, Parasite). The film is based on Edward Ashton’s science-fiction novel, Mickey7.
As the title of this review suggests, there will be spoilers. References to Ashton’s novel will be directly made throughout this article, so read ahead at your behest!
Discussion
I always feel scared. it’s terrible, dying. I hate it, no matter how many times I go through it. It’s scary still, always every time…
Mickey17 (Robert Pattinson), ‘Mickey 17’
Mickey 17 is a sufficiently honest adaptation with perhaps a few minor hiccups in the narrative. Still, it deserves attention for its decent replication. If I had to ruminate, then Mickey7 and Mickey 17 impress as Immortal products of creation consisting of an original entity and its copy-and-paste print-out(s), similar to book-to-film adaptations. A part of me came into this whole thing—i.e. reading the source material, watching the film—with Osgood Perkins’s The Monkey in mind, another film adaptation presenting the disparity between what an author and a filmmaker have planned for their respective interpretation of a story. Nonetheless, as a critic and as an enjoyer of the arts, I must say that Bong’s adaptation is fine work, barely scratching the “above average” level of appreciation.
The “key planetary positions” bit where Mickey Barnes (Pattinson) and Nasha Barridge (Naomi Ackie) create their own Kama Sutra took me by surprise. One explanation I have for that is it comes from a moment in Chapter 013 when Mickey7 faints and sees stick figures of himself or another. Other than that, it’s a hilarious commentary on love and companionship.
Mickey 17 is Cinema
The film’s production crew commits to utmost brilliance in their contributions to the theatrical cut. Director of Photography Darius Khondji captures picturesque frames with the camera. The first shot—wherein Mickey17 comes to, having fallen through a crevasse into the Creepers’ cave system, and wipes snow from his goggles and some snow still over his mouth—is an almost breath-taking opener. The shot of Barridge wearing a hazmat suit in Mickey’s isolation chamber is more so my favorite. It encapsulates her love for the Expendable despite other people’s glaring judgments.
The montage at the end of the first act wherein Mickey is exposed and then inoculated to Niflheim’s atmosphere is nice. Khondji shoots and editor Jinmo Yang assembles the footage together to produce a (sur)realisitic sequence of how many bodies it takes to find a vaccine. This sequence is better since the novel merely used two Mickeys to achieve that feat. I also admire the sequence of Mickey17 and Kai Katz’s (Anamaria Vartolomei) during dinner at the Marshalls’.
Next to the cinematography and the editing, music composer Jung Jae-il’s score is beautiful. The piano instrumental when Mickey first comes out of the bio-printer builds up a pace for the narrative. The score playing over Mickey1 meeting Barridge for the first time is sweet, to say the least. Bong’s lack of dialogue here helps play both the comedic and the heartfelt nature of having Barridge share the same scene with Kenneth Marshall (Mark Ruffalo).
Ashton’s Mickey7 vs Bong’s Mickey 17
Mickey 17‘s beats are selected meticulously. This is due to most of Mickey7 having its title character wander around his colony’s dome to avoid other crew members discover the existence of two Mickeys at a time. Consequently, though, it reduces how long it takes to maintain that very suspense. Seeing the material Bong had to work with, Mickey 17 is a great albeit imperfect adaptation. His translation of the in media res structure established in Ashton’s novel is felt here. On the one hand, Mickey7‘s chapters introduce a new character or narrative development followed by the respective extrapolation of each chapter’s focus. On the other hand, Mickey 17 drops most of its background minutiae in the former half of the film. In doing so, Bong allows for a more facilitated viewing experience while remaining faithful to Ashton’s storytelling technique.
The Colony
Production designer Fiona Crombie’s set pieces of Earth, Planet Niflheim, and the starship to the latter are stellar. I paid no mind to the visual effects and computer graphics elements involved. Crombie et al’s spiral staircase that descends as Mickey and Timo apply for Mission Niflheim, along with the spiral staircase separating the cycler on the lower deck from the bio-printer on the upper deck, represents the uncovering of deeper meaning in humanity. (Long-time readers already know what tangents I go on when discussing the concept of the “spiral”, so I won’t get into that for this article.) It’s a unique architectural symbolism for Mickey dying in one body and reincarnating in a new one without much hindsight, and we all know that Bong is infatuated with the “metaphorical”.
The colonial establishment of humans in Niflheim is vastly different from that of the novel. In Mickey7, Ashton writes in a “dome” settlement with perimeters to be guarded at all times. Yet, in Bong’s version, the beachhead colony is more of a titanic starship having made landfall, with vehicles entering and exiting. Katz’s rack showcases personality with its transparent glass pot for tea-brewing. The same could be said for the Marshall couple’s penthouse suite, which is conservatively adorned like Professor Umbridge’s office in the Harry Potter films.
Oculars and Creepers
Another difference in Mickey 17 is Mickey’s experience in Niflheim’s snowy tunnel system and its local extraterrestrial species, the “Creepers”. Mickey17 falls into a crevasse in the ground without a scratch. Instead, he breaks his communications and thermal goggles. In the novel, individual human inhabitants of Niflheim’s beachhead colony utilize an “ocular” implant. This allows them to view a map of the dome, the kilo-calories (kcal) consumed daily—as assigned by the commanding officer—, communication between one person and another, etc. The only moment this ever happens is when Agent Zeke (Steve Park) has another inhabitant video-record a hate crime done to a Creeper in the final act.
As for the Creepers themselves, it’s nice to see them function as if a hivemind. Since Mickey17 has little ocular activity, communication between its eponymous character and the Creepers is done through a translator device. This calls for the role of a scientist named Dorothy (Patsy Ferran), an original character. The network of friendly faces is better for Mickey17. It’s why I believe it’s a bit funny that the Creeper leader (voiced by Anna Mouglalis) drags him to the surface instead of all the way to the colony’s perimeter. Bong and his production crew illustrate a smarter, more clever species here, whereas Ashton could only infer this from Mickey7’s observations.
Berto Gomez vs Timo
The characterizations in Mickey 17 have their changes, for better or for worse. Whom they choose to focus on were never going to be easy, but the filmmaker makes the right choices. The casting department made a wise call in bringing in performers usually suited for dramatic projects.
Bong writes Mickey’s “best friend”, Timo (Steven Yeun), as more unpleasant than Ashton does. Berto Gomez—the character’s name in Mickey7—is a skilled flitter pilot and follows protocol as best as possible. In the novel, his relationship with Mickey appears a tad more complex. This is especially true as a result of Barnes’s losing bet with Darius Blank over a sports tournament in which Berto wins. Furthermore, Barnes’s inaccurate skepticism places him in an odd position. That prompts him to sign up for the Expendable program. This side character refuses to risk his life to save Mickey in the crevasse because of protocol and his obligations to the colony.
Likewise, in the film, he dismisses Mickey’s request for rescue because he can but chooses not to. Ultimately, this helps change the story’s tone from situationally funny to a dark comedy. Mickey and Timo’s failure to invest in a macaron store—including “macarons are not a sin” tee-shirts, thanks to costume designer Catherine George—is a genuinely laugh-out-loud bit. For this reason, Bong also paves the way for Blank to physically appear, which I think hasn’t technically taken place in the source material. I would argue that Blank sending an associate across space to punish the two characters seems impractical. Then again, look at this whole film!
Gemma and Alan Manikova
The role of Gemma (Holliday Grainger) is smaller and less impactful than in the novel. The whole “born again” concept in Mickey7 includes the philosophical Ship of Theseus thought experiment. However, Mickey 17 ditches that with little to no mention. Instead of Barnes’s final exam consisting of slicing through his brain with a burner, Gemma’s final test in Expendable training involves Barnes pulling the trigger of a handgun pressed his head.
Moreover, Mickey17’s aside elaborating on the Alan Manikova incident is also depicted differently than in the novel. In Mickey7, Ashton writes about an intelligent young man with with three PhDs and a sociopathic personality disorder, suspected for killing both of his parents, and used what financial and political power he possessed to migrate to an off-planet beachhead colony called Gault, funded by the wealthy. Over a year or so, Manikova kills his way through a fraction of ten thousand occupants, converting the dead into clones himself. To make a long story short, Manikova had nearly eighteen years to establish his rule, nuke a colony ship named Eden’s Justice—a response to a message of help from surviving Gault clans—, and be destroyed by a neighboring colony’s unstopping ship, The Bullet.
In Mickey 17, the story of Manikova is a rather brief aside. In this aside, his home is raided after the murder of the unhoused, leading to three Alan Manikovas’ apprehension. It still serves as a testament to why Expendable “multiples” should never happen. Yet, avoiding a society of multiples means Bong stays away from a subplot too close to a major narrative development in Rick and Morty, a popular Warner Bros. IP dealing with space travel and cloning.
The Primary Conflict
In terms of the plot, Bong carries over the primary conflict from Mickey7 into Mickey 17. In Ashton’s novel, the Niflheim beachhead colony is focused on energy conservation and resource management. There, it’s often explained how waste and Expendable cadavers are dumped into a cycler to help create paste for nourishment. Ashton’s version of the colony also has an Agriculture Section for planting and harvesting crops. With that considered, crew members are allotted a limit on how many calories are consumed daily. Whenever somebody fails to follow orders or falls out of line, their kcal count is deducted.
With the exception of Agriculture, the filmmaker stays true to this in his adaptation. However, for the most part, this narrative development is pushed to the background. The Manikova anecdote offers credence to the regulation of “multiples”, but in Ashton’s novel, the anecdote is also a testament to human bodies being recycled into energy and copies. Bong still explores the environmental crisis, yet just with a different conflict at hand. The Niflheim colony’s concentration on making a name for themselves on the planet in spite of its native species reflects the Trump administration’s political agenda to usurp land and living beings from their God-given home. “Ignorance is bliss” is one thing, but consciously venturing out into the unknown is a far greater goal.
Alongside calorie-consumption is antimatter used to fuel space travel. Mickey17 doesn’t really mention this detail in his narration. Taking that into account, this aspect is relevant to the rising value of gas in areas around the globe.
Can Antimatter Blues Still Happen?
When all is said and done, the final act of Bong’s film comes to a satisfactory conclusion. Marshall is killed in a suicide bombing triggered by Mickey18, and the Expendable program is shut down. Ashton’s following novel features the ongoing dispute between the humans and the Creepers. However, noting the diminished lens on the antimatter and energy problem, as well as Marshall’s demise this early on, a sequel to Mickey 17 would need to make adjustments. Antimatter can still be a follow-up flm’s McGuffin if the screenwriting can find a way. With Timo surviving Darius Blank’s murder attempt and Kai Katz still on the Niflheim crew, as well as the springtime setting, Bong leaves the door to the likelihood agape.
The Crew Behind Mickey 17
Darius Khondji (Se7en, Panic Room, Okja, Uncut Gems, Bardo) serves as the director of photography. Christopher Ross serves as the additional unit director of photography.
Jinmo Yang (Train to Busan, Okja, Parasite) serves as the editor.
Jung Jae-il (Okja, Parasite, Squid Game) serves as the music composer/ music editor.
Choi Tae-young serves as the supervising sound editor.
Francine Maisler (Bad Boys, Spider-Man & Spider-Man 3, Hancock, The Amazing Spider-Man, Elysium, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Birdman, Arrival, The Killing of a Sacred Deer, Blade Runner 2049, Annihilation, Widows, Uncut Gems, Denis Villeneuve’s Dune films, Don’t Look Up, Bones and All, Challengers) serves as the casting director.
Jessica Ronane serves as additional UK casting.
Molly Rose (The Killing of a Sacred Deer, Blade Runner 2049, Widows, Marriage Story, Uncut Gems, Little Women, Denis Villeuneuve’s Dune films, Don’t Look Up, Bones and All, True Detective Season 4, Challengers) is the US casting associate. Abby Galvin is the UK casting associate.
Rosie Dart is the casting assistant.
Paul Lowe serves as the stunt coordinator.
Adelaide Waldrop serves as the intimacy coordinator.
Alex Clark serves as the storyboard artist.
Aesthetics
Fiona Crombie (Cruella, Beau Is Afraid) serves as the production designer.
Jason Knox-Johnston serves as the supervising art director.
Dominique Law, Christine Lois, Marco Restivo, Paul Savulescu, Laura Mickiewicz, and Lisa McDiarmid are credited as the art directors. Chelsea Davison and Jan Gronczewski are credited as the assistant art directors.
Shalina Bhamra, Hannah Foulkes, and Giulia Iddas are credited as the set designers. Alice Felton serves as the set decorator.
Catherine George (Snowpiercer, Okja) serves as the costume designer.
Sharon Martin serves as the makeup and hair designer.
Klara Levring and Ripley Dale-Gulston are the makeup and hair artists.
The Cast of Mickey 17
Robert Pattinson (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, High Life, Tenet, The Batman, The Boy and the Heron) portrays Mickey Barnes and his eighteen Expendable clones.
Naomi Ackie (The End of the F***ing World Series 2) portrays Nasha Barridge, Niflheim’s security agent and Mickey’s love interest. The character’s last name was changed from Adjaya from the novel.
Anamaria Vartolomei portrays Kai Katz, Niflheim’s scientist and security agent. The character is renamed from Cat Chen.
Steven Yeun (The Walking Dead, Sorry to Bother You, Minari, Nope, Invincible) plays Timo, Niflheim’s pilot and Mickey’s only friend from Earth. The character is renamed from Berto Gomez.
Mark Ruffalo (13 Going on 30, Zodiac, Shutter Island, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Poor Things) portrays Kenneth Marshall, a politician who runs Niflheim. The character’s first name was changed from Commander Hieronymus Marshall.
Toni Collette (The Sixth Sense, Little Miss Sunshine, Mary and Max, Fright Night, Krampus, Hereditary, Knives Out, I’m Thinking of Ending Things) portrays Ylfa, Kenneth Marshall’s wife. Ylfa is an original character written for the film.
Anna Mouglalis voices the Creeper leader via a translation device.
Nilfheim Crew Members
Patsy Ferran portrays Dorothy, a scientist who is sympathetic to Mickey Barnes. Steve Park portrays Zeke, the head of Niflheim’s Security Section. Both are original characters written for the film.
Cameron Britton (HBO’s Barry Season 1, The Umbrella Academy) plays Arkady, the head of Niflheim’s Science Section.
Daniel Henshall (The Babadook, Okja, Defending Jacob, The Royal Hotel) portrays Preston, Marshall’s assistant.
Tim Key plays a man on Niflheim dressed as a pigeon.
Ellen Robertson plays Jennifer Chilton, a close friend of Kai’s.
Other Characters
Ian Hanmore appears as Darius Blank, a crime boss on Earth.
Holliday Grainger appears as Gemma/ “red hair”.
Edward Davis portrays Alan Manikova, an infamous criminal who exploited the cloning technology for personal use.
Performances and Character Developments
Robert Pattinson invents his own characters through Mickey17 and Mickey18. The actor performs with intrigue, oscillating between comical and dramatic. His voice work, e.g. his puking noises, shrieks in bed, 17’s dumbass accent and loud screams of pain, 18’s Batman-like tone, demonstrates a diversity in Pattinson’s capabilities. The Mickeys’ initial argument over who should go down the cycler is well-acted between the actor and…himself, and the idea of them playing Rock, Paper, Scissors to choose who dies is floated by Timo in the final act, as opposed to the Mickeys playing it at the end of the third chapter in Ashton’s book.
Compared to Mickey7, Mickey17 isn’t all there in the head; and juxtaposed with Marshall, Mickey18 contains a more personal form of anger. These personality differences pave the way for internalized external conflict with bigger stakes because Mickey18 is quick to resolve it with violence. This pushes for a more thrilling discovery of multiples than simply being reported for both Mickeys being in bed with Nasha. That isn’t bad, but physical threats and the breaking of protocol add layers to the conflict at hand.
The Female Leads
Naomi Ackie appeals in the role of Nasha Barridge, a lover and a fighter. The character has more room to move in the film than I feel she does in the novel. It might be due in part to the fact that her literary counterpart is assigned as a flitter pilot. She’s endearing in every one of her scenes, especially those wherein she accompanies Mickey’s exposure to radiation inside an isolation chamber. The climactic scene between Barridge and the two Mickeys is visually appealing because, well, “sex sells”. Additionally, it transitions smoother into the final act, where Marshall steps in to bring the conflict to a close.
Ackie has a fascinating performance with the script. Specifically, I love the scenes wherein Barridge comes to Mickeys’ defense. The actor’s line deliveries suggest that her character is a closed relationship type of woman, a slight difference from Nasha in the novel. My only small remark is I would have liked to see Barridge partake in more of the action.
Similarly, I love Anamaria Vartolomei as Kai Katz. Her dual role as both a scientist and a security agent expands her depth in the film. This isn’t to say that she doesn’t have depth in Ashton’s novel. Bong provides the character a reason for being attracted to one of the Mickeys. Like Barridge, Katz holds feminist values. However, like her literary counterpart, she is challenged by her loyalties to the colony. Bong’s depiction of the character doesn’t yearn for reincarnation, but she still questions the protagonist about the phenomenon of dying. Vartolomei’s chemistry with Pattinson is as enticing as Ackie’s chemistry with him. This exhibits an actually compelling love triangle that Mickey7 avoids…or tries to, anyway.
What An Antagonist
Bong does some of his best screenwriting through Mark Ruffalo’s character, Marshall. In Mickey7, Mickey’s first impression of the character is: “From his jet-black tight-fade haircut to his perpetually clenched jaw … almost a parody of the sort of cold-eyed, combat-hardened military man”. Marshall comes off as a generic commander archetype yet is described as having priggish and insecure qualities. In Mickey 17, however, it’s clear Bong intends to depict Ruffalo’s version as a mirror copy of television personality-turned-political figure, Donald Trump.
Kenneth Marshall—changed from Hieronymous Marshall—is an obvious Trump parody, down to the “supporters” of his cause and the rounds of applause given—no exaggeration needed—whenever his presence fills a room. Because of this, Niflheim’s colony blatantly places inhabitants inside jail cages, whereas in the novel, jail is not known to exist until Nasha is caught with her “sin”. Even Mickey 18’s assassination attempt at the end of the second act parallels the alleged assassination attempt of Trump in Pennsylvania. Interesting kairos, indeed…
With that said, what solidifies Marshall’s ethos is Ruffalo’s portrayal through minute actions and mannerisms. The dumbass “Trump dance” that he does when he first enters the dining hall, the tenacious grip on his wife’s ass as he announces landfall, and the colonizer rhetoric spewed are uncanny. The makeup and hair artistry paints a solid portrait of that to a tee. Marshall’s “Natalist” beliefs tap in so well, namely in how he discriminates against Expendable culture by berating Mickey whenever he doesn’t live up to the job description. The “monthly giveaway” bit wherein Ruffalo, Pattinson, Toni Collette, and Vartolomei make exchanges is excellent—a clever parody alluding to Ridley Scott’s Alien.
Final Thoughts on Bong Joon-ho’s Mickey 17
Robert Pattinson rightfully earns his time under the spotlight in Mickey 17, a film adaptation reminding viewers of their roles and functions in the world. Many in the political spectrum forget to distinguish between the true aliens and locals, an alarming issue raised in more recent years. When affairs surrounding co-existence subject one side to a status of superiority, it becomes incumbent on us all to look into the transhuman and the posthuman points of view. The film also makes the risk of death a haunting prospect, which the novel quells through its constant musings. As a Bong Joon-ho title, I don’t rank it amongst Memories of Murder and Parasite. Mickey 17 is a blessing in disguise that propels me back into existential thought. I’m sorry, Snowpiercer and Okja—a better Bong film is out here now, and it’s essential for the world to see more of it!
4.5/5 stars
Mickey 17 is now playing in theaters!
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For Further Reading…
If you are hoping to get into the source material, then I highly recommend picking up a physical copy of Mickey7, a science-fiction novel by Edward Ashton!
Also, in the case that we do get a sequel to Mickey 17, I also recommend picking up a physical copy of Antimatter Blues, Ashton’s successor novel to Mickey7!
Managing editor & film and television critic with a Bachelor's of Arts in English Literature with a Writing Minor from the University of Guam. Currently in graduate school completing a Master's in English Literature.
