Mickey (Robert Pattinson) is a poor labourer working for a large pharma corporation. He is an “Expandable”. His job consists of dying multiple times so that the unscrupulous employers can test different vaccines and medications on him. Every time he passes away, his memories are stored on a data brick and then inserted on a newly printed version of his body. The new Mickey comes out naked, shaky and wet out of a “human printer”, a device resembling a IRM scanner. He’s now on his 17th lease of life (hence the film title). Perhaps because of the unethical and secretive nature of trade, the operations take place on a planet in a far-away galaxy.

The work is hard. No matter how many times he dies, Mickey just never gets used to it. A predicament familiar to anyone forced into a painfully boring job of mundane and repetitive nature. Instead of “have a good day”, it’s a pragmatic “have a good death” that punctuates his routine. Until one day something goes wrong. Mickey 17 fails to die, and has to contend with a far more confident and aggressive version of himself, Mickey 18 (also played by Pattinson). Both characters possess Mickey’s features and memories of the past, however it is 17 that embodies his consciousness. The problem is that “Multiples” are a serious infringement of the company’s rules, and they must be immediately destroyed. One of the two must go quickly, before their existence is revealed.

17 and 18 engage in the battle of good versus evil, with Pattinson doing a very decent job at portraying the protagonist as well as his “twin” antagonist. But the real star of Mickey 17 is Naomi Ackie, who plays Mickey’s greedy girlfriend Nasha. The woman is ecstatic at the horny prospect of having both men at once. She openly fantasises about a spit roast. A threesome follows, fuelled by a recreational drug called oxyzofol (which they smoke on a crystal meth bong). Nasha is so persuasive that she eventually gets the two foes to join forces and fight against their greedy employers instead. Muark Ruffalo plays the big boss Kenneth Marshall with aplomb, delivering a creepy villain with the maniacal laughter of Dr. Evil. He is supported by his equally mean and far more vain wife Yifa (Toni Collette).

The native creatures of the planet (nicknamed “Creepers”) play a prominent role in the story. One mother and countless babies resemble armadillos with giant teeth in lieu of their belly. They dot the surface of the cold and inhospitable environment. These animals might seem scary from a distance, but they are actually very gentle and sensitive. Sentient even. They must bear the brunt and the pains of Marshall’s ambitions. A mixture of puppetry and CGI is used in order to create strangely affectionate characters. Think of Labyrinth (Jim Henson, 1986) meets Alien (Ridley Scott, 1979) meets The NeverEnding Story (Wolfganf Petersen, 1984) and you’re halfway there.

With a duration of more than two hours and a quarter, Bong Joon-ho’s first film since Parasite (2019) is a highly ambitious endeavour. An unabashedly loud and bonkers blend of sci-fi and comedy, with some hilarious, dirty and also heartwarming moments. But this is a film that never reaches its full potential, perhaps precisely because of its sheer ambition. Mickey 17 is as rounded as Parasite, with countless loose ends (such as the nature of Nasha’s job, the hierarchy of the company, etc). Plus the story has more endings than Super Mario, with progressive challenges popping out of nowhere to little effect, ultimately diluting its effectiveness.

Joon-ho sets out to take the mickey of various institutions and ideologies. Mickey 17 is a vaguely amusing however mostly anodyne criticism of fascism, capitalism, the gig economy, consumerism, the pharma industry, and more. Comments subtle enough to go unnoticed by unsuspecting viewers. A couple of remarks, however, might resonate more widely. The first one is on immigration and colonialism: Marshall is told that humans are the aliens and the Creepers are the native inhabitants of the planet. The second one might ring bells in the Middle East: Marshall demands the “total extermination” of a population that consists of children in its majority.

When Parasite became the first (and still the only) foreign-language movie to win the Best Picture Academy Award five years ago, the Korean director dismissed the importance of the prize by claiming that it was merely a “local award”. It is contradictory that he should choose to do this following film in such “local” language. Are successful directors doomed to end up in Hollywood, with films often inferior to the ones authored in their native country? And was Parasite just a one-off at the Oscars? Let’s hope that both answers are a resounding “no”. The cinema industry must not become a factory churning out near-identical Multiples.

Mickey 17 premiered in a special gala event at the 75th Berlin International Film Festival, when this piece was originally written. In cinemas on Friday, March 7th.