Summary
- Mickey 17 follows a clone facing a sci-fi journey to Niflheim, where he grapples with memory loss and identities.
- Timo's shady actions escalate, while Mickey's past traumas and unanswered questions add depth to the plot.
- The mysteries surrounding Earth's state, colony life, and character relationships leave room for interpretation.
Mickey 17 is the latest film from Bong Joon-ho, and it’s a weird one. The narrative centers on Mickey, who has to travel to space to avoid a loan shark with his friend Timo. Timo gets a good job working as a pilot, but Mickey becomes a test subject for a cloning program, dubbing him an Expendable.
This means his current employers get to experiment with his body, killing him in the process, and then they print out a new clone when they are done. Mickey 17 is about the seventeenth clone discovering that the scientists aboard his spaceship accidentally printed out his successor, Mickey 18, early. Hijinks ensue. It’s a long movie, and yet, it still leaves a lot on the table. Let’s go through these burning questions in Bong Joon-ho’s latest epic.
There will be spoilers ahead.
7 What Happened With Mickey’s Mom?
The Red Button Mystery
Mickey 17 talks about his past quite frequently, with the most traumatic thing being his mom dying. When he was a kid, the real Mickey hit a red button in their car which he thought caused them to crash. Mickey 18 tells Mickey 17 that it was just an accident caused by a car malfunction, and it was not his fault or the fault of his mom’s driving.
That’s it though, and no more scenes are shown to alleviate Mickey 17 or the audience on what really happened. It seems like the film cut out something important because it was built up so much, even leading to a creepy nightmare with a dead Ylfa having her blood turn into a red button on her hand.
6 Are They Going To Be Fine On Niflheim?
They're Sure To Run Out Of Food Sometime
After Mickey 18 blows up Kenneth Marshall, time flashes forward a few months. It’s spring now, and Niflheim isn’t filled with flowers budding like on Earth. But at least the extreme blizzard weather has stopped, and it is sunny, with people frolicking outside with the Creepers.
This Low Budget Sci-Fi Movie And Mickey 17 Are Basically The Same Story
Bong Joon-ho's upcoming Mickey 17 seems like a fresh and exciting sci-fi film, but it shares an almost identical plot with Moon (2009).
There are no additional buildings on the surface yet, and it seems like the colony still lives on the ship. Are they even capable of crafting buildings on Niflheim? What about their food supply? Surely it will run out soon, so the ending is less ideal than it is painted to be.
5 Is There More Life On Niflheim?
The Creepers Can’t Be Alone
When the colony lands on Niflheim, it looks like a frozen planet no different from Hoth in Star Wars. However, there is life via the alien bug-like creatures that they call Creepers. Even though they learn to communicate with them eventually, they never ask for their real names. It’s also unclear if there is any other life on the planet. There surely has to be for the Creepers to survive, whether they're carnivores, omnivores, or herbivores.
4 Why Was Nasha Attracted To Mickey?
Love Is A Mystery As Old As Time
Mickey 17 sets up the attraction between his past Mickeys and Nasha to be a mystery, or to like he loses her at some point. Nasha does not die, but her attraction to Mickey is never explained. She’s attached to him to the point of being a bit toxic, starting unnecessary fights as if Mickey is an object to possess and not a person. It feels like a mystery dangling with room left to explore in the final edit. Sometimes love in movies doesn’t need an explanation, and maybe that’s the message Mickey 17 was trying to convey. Love can indeed be weird, nonsensical, and mysterious.
3 Will Timo Get His Comeuppance?
The Loan Sharks May Return
This whole mess started because Timo, played by Steven Yeun, wanted to open up a Macaron place on Earth. He gets tangled up with loan sharks, which is why he escapes to space with Mickey. Even though he should be groveling at Mickey’s feet, he treats him like dirt in the movie. He leaves Mickey 17 to die in a cave, and even asks him to sacrifice himself to get chopped into bits by a chainsaw later.
Even when confronted with one of the loan shark’s men who snuck aboard the colony, Timo wins the fight. He kills the loan shark and doesn’t even face legal consequences. Timo’s life is too good and there’s no scene of reconciliation between him and Mickey 17, even though there should have been something.
2 How Competent Was Kenneth Marshall As A Leader?
And Ylfa’s Obsession With Sauces
Kenneth Marshall, played by Mark Ruffalo, is the big bad of the movie. He’s the politician who put this colony together so that he could win an election of his own accord. He failed twice on Earth and established a cult-like colony with his wife Ylfa, played by Toni Collette, who is obsessed with sauces for some unknown reason.
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Did they have a plan? They seem like they are making things up as they go along, and it’s unclear if Kenneth was pure evil or if he just didn’t have enough brain cells to feed a fish. The point is moot, since Mickey 18 blew him up and Ylfa died offscreen.
1 The State Of Earth
How Much Longer Does It Have?
If Kenneth failed in two elections, then who is the current President of the United States? Is there a United States at all, or have nations consolidated themselves on Earth? The state of the planet is unclear, even though a good chunk of the movie's intro is spent setting up how Mickey got into being cloned. T
All audiences know is that people want to escape into space because Earth does have some weird weather patterns, but it’s not unlivable. In the brief scene in the city with Timo and Mickey running from the loan sharks, the setting looks nice enough, if a bit gritty. Earth is ultimately not important, but fans may be curious about it to flesh out the lore.
- Release Date
- February 28, 2025
- Runtime
- 137 minutes
- Director
- Bong Joon Ho
- Writers
- Bong Joon Ho, Edward Ashton
- Producers
- Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Marianne Jenkins, Dooho Choi, Jesse Ehrman
Cast
-
Mickey Barnes -
Naomi AckieNasha -
Steven YeunTimo -
Mark RuffaloKenneth Marshall
WHERE TO WATCH
- Main Genre
- Sci-Fi
- Characters By
- Edward Ashton
- Cinematographer
- Darius Khondji
- Producer
- Bong Joon Ho, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Dooho Choi
- Production Company
- Offscreen, Plan B Entertainment, Kate Street Picture Company
