Robert Pattinson is back on our screens, and there are two of him in the long-awaited new movie from Oscar winner Bong Joon-ho, so what's not to love about Mickey 17?
First reviews have called the sci-fi a "masterpiece" and praised Pattinson's dual performance, with even some early buzz that he could be in next year's awards race. (Yes, we know the Oscars have just happened.)
But since it's an original movie, we get that you might not have a clue what Mickey 17 is about if you're deciding whether you want to see it this weekend.
So, we're here to help with a definitive guide to the new movie – and also how it changes up the story to its own detriment.
What is Mickey 17 about?
Mickey 17 is set in the year 2054 when humanity has started to attempt to set up colonies on distant planets.
Mickey Barnes (Pattinson) is on a mission to colonise ice world Niflheim, but he doesn't have an ordinary job. He's an "expendable" whose main goal is to carry out all the dangerous tasks needed on the expedition. If he dies, Mickey's body is reprinted and his memories reinstalled into the new body.
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But when the 17th version of Mickey somehow manages to survive an accident, he comes back to the ship and discovers that the next version of him, Mickey 18, has already been printed – and multiples are forbidden.
If they're discovered, the Mickeys will be erased... permanently.
Is Mickey 17 based on a book?
Yes! Although you won't find a book out there called Mickey 17, as it's actually based on Mickey7 by Edward Ashton.
The movie was confirmed before the book was even published in February 2022, with writer/director Bong Joon-ho completing the screenplay for the movie in September 2021 based on an early draft of the novel (via The Korea Times).
It explains why there are some significant differences between the two versions of the story. The concept is the same, except in the book there's only been seven Mickeys and the duplicate is Mickey 8.
"The concept of human printing is so fascinating from the novel, but I wanted to pull it down to Earth and make it more every day and more direct to our every day life," Bong told POC Culture about the changes.
"In the novel, it deals with it in a philosophical and profound way, but I kind of wanted to feel closer to our everyday reality.
"At the centre of that attempt is the character of Mickey. In the novel, he's sort of this historian, intellectual, but I wanted to make him more working class, a bit dumber, a bit more adorable, more unfortunate, nice, and also just too nice for his own good."
How Mickey 17's biggest change wastes its most interesting aspect
As mentioned above, the set-up of Mickey 17 is largely the same as the book. Mickey needs to get off Earth, as he's in debt to a dangerous criminal, so he signs up to be an "expendable" on the mission to Niflheim with his best friend Timo (called Berto in the book).
While on Niflheim, Mickey 17 falls through the ice, and Timo doesn't risk his life to save Mickey, because Mickey will be back. But Mickey 17 is saved by Niflheim's native species, called Creepers by the crew, and gets back to the ship, only to find Mickey 18 has already been printed.
In the book, this leads to struggles between the two as they attempt to keep the fact that they're multiples a secret from the mission commander Hieronymous Marshall.
As a member of a religious sect known as Natalists, Marshall believes that expendables don't have souls and are therefore abominations. If he discovers that there are two Mickeys, it'll be used as an excuse to kill them.
This is largely the character of Marshall (renamed Kenneth Marshall) in the movie, but Bong makes the biggest change by turning him from a military commander into a fame-hungry politician who wants Niflheim to be a "pure white planet of superior beings".
Many viewers have already compared the character of Marshall to the current US President Donald Trump (even his followers sport red hats), but Bong has stated that it's not meant to be a replica.
"European journalists asked many questions about [Marshall]. It seems the world is quite similar. People seem to have projected their own negative political experiences onto this film. This is part of what makes movies interesting," he told The Korea Times.
This switch into a politician certainly makes Mickey 17 more timely and also allows it to explore how the 1% view those lesser than them. However, it also unfortunately takes the spotlight away from the Mickeys.
While they are still front-and-centre of the movie, it becomes Marshall's plan that dominates the second half of the movie. There's no room for the more interesting existential exploration of whether both Mickeys are the same person or different people (think Trigger and his broom), or the danger of them co-existing on the ship.
A 369-page book obviously has more scope to explore the minutiae of the world than a two-hour movie, but it's still a shame we don't really get anything of the Mickeys sabotaging each other or the wider day-to-day activities of the colonisation.
In the book, the Mickeys decide to share tasks, but it also means they share food that is strictly rationed, even if neither Mickey ever quite sticks to the plan. At times, it's The Substance, but in space.
This is briefly touched upon in the movie, and we do get the book's unique threesome sequence. However, the plot focus quickly switches to Marshall's plan to deal with the Creepers – as well as a generic crime subplot with Timo that isn't in the book.
Even with Bong's keen eye for the absurd, it relegates the Mickeys to pawns on the board rather than the active participants they are in the book. It's rectified slightly in the climax which retains the book's spirit, if not the exact sequence of events, but it doesn't stop Mickey 17 from dragging somewhat in its second half.
Of course, if you haven't read Mickey7, then you might not even see what the problem is. It's still a bold, funny and weird sci-fi blockbuster with two excellent, distinct performances from Robert Pattinson, despite the plot frustrations.
But if Mickey 17 has got you keen to explore more, then Mickey7 is a must-read.
Mickey 17 is out now in cinemas.
Movies Editor, Digital Spy Ian has more than 10 years of movies journalism experience as a writer and editor. Starting out as an intern at trade bible Screen International, he was promoted to report and analyse UK box-office results, as well as carving his own niche with horror movies, attending genre festivals around the world. After moving to Digital Spy, initially as a TV writer, he was nominated for New Digital Talent of the Year at the PPA Digital Awards. He became Movies Editor in 2019, in which role he has interviewed 100s of stars, including Chris Hemsworth, Florence Pugh, Keanu Reeves, Idris Elba and Olivia Colman, become a human encyclopedia for Marvel and appeared as an expert guest on BBC News and on-stage at MCM Comic-Con. Where he can, he continues to push his horror agenda – whether his editor likes it or not.
