One of my most anticipated films of 2025 was Mickey 17, directed by Bong Joon-ho, and adapted from the 2022 science fiction novel Mickey7. The reasons why I was so excited for the film are, firstly, because Robert Pattinson is not only an impeccable actor in general, but an extremely talented voice actor who has this unique ability to seamlessly adapt his voice to every character he plays. Secondly, Joon-ho is always remarkably creative in his work. For example, his 2018 film, Parasite, is known for its interesting characters and unexpected plot twists. Finally, this movie was described using the genres comedy, adventure, and science fiction— three genres I’m very curious and excited to see coincide in a film. Overall, I felt that with the description, book adaptation, and trailer all prior to the film, the movie would be something that I really enjoyed, and it did not disappoint.
On March 6, my friends and I went to the early screening of Mickey 17, only a day prior to its original U.S. release date of March 7. With all of our hopes high, we were extremely excited to watch the film we had been talking about going to see for weeks. The movie focuses on Mickey, played by Pattinson, who, while running from his own problems on Earth, takes a job on a spaceship as a disposable crew member called an “expendable.” In Mickey’s job title, his purpose is to test out various dangerous situations that humans might encounter when discovering the new planet they are in route to inhabit, called “Niflheim.” He is exposed to various types of gases, vaccines, poisons, animals, etc. in order to make sure that humans are safe when they arrive on Niflheim. After going through a genetic re-printing every time he dies while testing, he is able to, in a sense, come back to life, to redo it the next day; hence the name Mickey 17, because the film stars the 17th copy of the original Mickey since beginning his job as an expendable. With this, he battles socially with being picked on and discriminated against due to his low-ranking job, and internally with his fear of death despite his occupational obligation to it.
The movie begins right in the action, so if you enjoy fast-paced, straight-to-the-point plots, it’s a great watch. With the story in motion as soon as the movie begins, there’s no time for boredom or confusion. As the story is science fiction, there are foreign species and elements of science that aren’t explained initially, aren’t well-known, or may not even exist. However, as the movie is so dynamic, those questions or moments of confusion were fixed pretty quickly; all of my questions were answered, and my initial skepticism dissipated. The score of the film also was something that had me really enthralled in the story. The music was so dark, yet animated, and felt truly important to the story. The music actually provoked feelings from me in various moments and made the scenes better in my opinion. Another part of the story that was really interesting and progressed the plot was how it was being told.
As I mentioned before, Pattinson is a talented voice actor, allowing the voice of whomever he’s portraying to almost become its own actor. A majority of the film is voice-over work by Pattinson, narrating Mickey’s physical movements and inner thoughts throughout the story. This unique aspect of the plot, which was well-done by Joon-ho, really brought a different angle to not only Mickey’s character, but how he interacted with other people within the storyline. And speaking of the storyline, along with the fusion of a variety of genres, although not the focus of the movie, I appreciated the tidbits of romance we got between Pattinson’s character, Mickey, and his love interest, Nasha, played by Naomi Acki (Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody and Blink Twice). Other than romance, I think there was representation in politics, specifically American politics in reference to the 2024 Presidential election. Although these themes mostly came up in side plots and/or smaller features in the film, they didn’t go unnoticed or unappreciated by me.With any film, it can be difficult working with so many multi-faceted parts, like working with multiple genres and striving to reproduce an already-published body of work, such as the book-to-film adaptation of Mickey7 to Mickey 17. While the movie was complex in its uniqueness, it was also straightforward in its plot points, silly, and creative in many ways. I really enjoyed seeing relationships fail, begin, grow, and ignite between all the characters, and valued a lot of the directorial decisions made. Although Pattinson’s voice acting capabilities never cease to amaze me, I am confident in saying that this is my favorite performance by him vocally. His voice is so recognizable and unique in this film, yet you don’t hear Pattinson; you just hear Mickey, which is extremely impressive to achieve. Due to all of these factors, I can proudly say I rated this movie five stars on Letterboxd, gave it a 10 out of 10, and can say it was definitely one of my favorites in a long time. Mickey 17 has successfully gone from my most anticipated film of the year to my favorite film of the year.