March 13, 2024 – Mickey 17 has the makings of a good little science fiction comedy about an expendable worker who becomes more than the sum of he and his duplicate self on a distant planet, but it gets bogged down in a messy plot that won't stop when enough is enough.

Fans of Director Bong Joon-ho will probably like Mickey 17 more than I did. While it isn't as silly a movie as “Parasite” (2019) or “Snowpiercer,” (2013) it falls short of “The Host” (2006) and is far behind what I think of as Bong Joon-ho's best movie, “Mother” (2009).

Mickey 17 is a movie that is an overt critique of current American society, with a Trump-like dim-witted politician, Kenneth Marshall (Mark Ruffalo of “Poor Things”) heading to a distant planet as the religious and political leader of a new, “Pure” society, with his fanatical followers in tow.

Mickey Barnes (Robert Pattinson of the “Twilight” movies) signs on to this ship of fools because he is desperate to get away from loan sharks after a failed business venture with his friend, Timo (Steve Yuen of “Minari”). Mickey, having no valuable skills, signs on as an “expendable,” while Timo is a pilot.

As an expendable, Mickey goes through procedures that enable him to be duplicated, so that after he dies, a new Mickey can be created by what amounts to a 3D printer. He becomes a kind of human lab rat, testing conditions in space, and on the planet Niflheim, where deadly airborne pathogens kill him repeatedly until scientists develop a vaccine against the disease.

Since Mickey is not a true believer in Kenneth Marshall's cult, he soon runs afoul of him and is punished. His rations are cut in half and he is sent out out in the cold of the Niflheim winter on extended surveys. On one of these journeys he falls into an ice cave. Timo could have rescued him, but doesn't bother, and he reports Mickey as having died.

A new Mickey, Mickey 18, is printed, but it turns out that Mickey 17 is still alive. Native creatures called Creepers, who are sentient, saved him and pushed him back out of the cave. The two Mickeys are considered illegal “multiples,” subject to execution if they are discovered. Meanwhile, Kenneth Marshall assumes, without evidence, that the armadillo-like Creepers are harmful. He makes plans to kill them all to purify the planet. The Creepers, however, have their own plans to kill all the humans if they start killing the Creepers.

Mickey and his friends set out to stop the coming war between the humans and the Creepers, but it won't be easy to stop the megalomaniac and his cult from executing these ill-informed war plans. The odds against their rebellion are long, but the rebels have more than just friends in low places. There are also the usual shadowy conspirators, what some might call The Deep State, as well as the stupidity, over confidence and incompetence of Marshall.

Pattinson gives an unusually lively performance here, especially as Mickey 18, who is more aggressive and not as nice as Mickey 17. Naomi Ackie (“Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody”) gives a nice performance as Mickey's girlfriend, Nasha. Veteran award-winning actress Toni Collette (“Nightmare Alley”) effectively plays the Lady Macbeth-like Ylfa, Marshall's wife.

There are a lot of complications in this ragged plot, and it doesn't have a real ending, instead it has something like one of those Marvel post-credit scenes, only it comes just before the credits. I prefer a cleaner plot than this, but, like I said, this is more suited to those who are devoted fans of Bong Joon-ho's brand of comedic misanthropy. This movie rates a B.

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