March 4 (UPI) -- Mickey 17, in theaters Friday, is a provocative science fiction story that mines intriguing possibilities out of its premise. Its allegories can sometimes veer into caricature, but overall the film delivers on the story.
Based on the novel Mickey 7 by Edward Ashton, the film takes place in the year 2054, where Mickey Barnes (Robert Pattinson) has signed up to be an expendable on a space mission to colonize another planet. Unlike the heroes of Sylvester Stallone's Expendables franchise, Mickey actually does die, a lot.
The crew sends Mickey on all the most dangerous missions and every time he dies, they can print a new Mickey and transfer his memories over to the new body. When Mickey 17 doesn't die, it creates problems for him and everyone else on the ship.
The world has already debated the ethics of human cloning and designating "expendables" by the time Mickey is hired. The practice is only legal for ultra dangerous off-planet use, and volunteers are still rare.
Mickey signs up to escape a loan shark and takes the one job no one else wants to guarantee a seat on the ship. Mickeys 1-16 are expended before the title of the movie appears on screen.
As Mickey 17, Pattinson conveys an endearing innocence. It's not that he is a newborn, because he has all of his memories, but that perhaps someone would have to be an unfathomable optimist to agree to die repeatedly, even with the guarantee of reprinting.
And yet, the crew of the voyage are not grateful for Mickey's sacrifice. They exploit him for being willing to die and reproduce. Even his girlfriend, Nasha (Naomie Ackie), uses his copies as play toys.
This is the plight of the working man. If they can't work you to death, they'll work you even harder.
Pattinson also performs physical comedy, throwing his body into scenes of calamities that befall the various Mickeys. Because he survives the 17th, Mickey 17 overlaps with Mickey 18. 18 is a drastically different character, displaying aggression and a violent self-preservation instinct.
Mickey acknowledges that the system can produce slight variations in reprints. Perhaps the 18th time is increasingly more extreme, and confronting his previous self is triggering.
The film, adapted and directed by Parasite director Bong Joon-ho, offers other hints about the world in 2054. There are environmental calamities, allowing producers of protective gear to capitalize.
There is apparently an anti-migration movement, but former politician Kenneth Marshall (Mark Ruffalo) is leading the voyage to Niflheim. Kenneth is so broad he threatens to sabotage the movie, but fortunately there are multiple Pattinsons steering the film back.
Ruffalo is doing a voice that makes Kenneth sound like he's not a real person. He refers to the company as the church and talks about repopulating Niflheim with a master race, so he's not subtle.
It is obvious to everyone except Kenneth that his wife, Ilfa (Toni Collette), is actually in charge. Kenneth readily adopts her ideas and implements them.
The film also tackles imperialism as Kenneth attempts to displace the alien race indigenous to Niflheim. The adorable creatures, who actually saved Mickey 17, are dubbed "creepers."
There is perhaps one too many themes for the story to bear, and there are certainly scenes where Kenneth takes too long to explain his obvious plot. The 137-minute film could have been stronger at a brisk, even two hours.
Between all of those characters and subplots, there are also drastic tonal shifts from violent action to broad slapstick comedy. This can be jarring, but it shows Bong is uncompromised by Hollywood.
The tone is less of an issue than the sheer magnitude of story. The premise begs a lot of questions and the story keeps exploring each one of those issues until the very end.
Fred Topel, who attended film school at Ithaca College, is a UPI entertainment writer based in Los Angeles. He has been a professional film critic since 1999, a Rotten Tomatoes critic since 2001, and a member of the Television Critics Association since 2012 and the Critics Choice Association since 2023. Read more of his work in Entertainment.
