Oscar-winning South Korean director Bong Joon-ho returns to science fiction for the first time since Okja to bring us this class-conscious tale of interstellar exploration and indentured servitude. Sounds fun!
When is Mickey 17 being released in the UK?
Mickey 17 hits UK cinemas on March 29.
Mickey 17
What is Mickey 17 about?
Based on the fairly obscure novel Mickey7 by Edward Ashton, Mickey 17 tells us the story of the titular Mickey, an expendable labourer on a dangerous mission to colonies the distant ice world of Niflheim. How disposable is he? Every time he dies, he’s cloned, with the new iteration retaining some, but not all, of the previous clone’s memories. Sounds a bit like Moon to us. Word is that the story has changed a lot from its journey from page to screen, but we have a limitless amount of faith in Bong Joon-ho.
The cast of Mickey 17
Robert Pattinson is Mickey Barnes, Steven Yeun is Berto, Naomi Ackie is Nasha Adjaya, Toni Collette is Gwen Johansen, and Mark Ruffalo is Hieronymous Marshall. Details are a bit thin on the ground, so your guess is as good as ours as to their function in the story, but that’s a stacked cast.
Mickey 17 trailer
Why we’re excited about Mickey 17
Well, it’s Bong Joon-ho, right? The man is a cinematic genius, as Parasite‘s critical and commercial success proved a few years back. Plus, he’s a dab hand at allegorical science fiction. This is the guy who gave us Snowpiercer, a film where Captain America confesses to eating at least one baby.
Robert Pattinson is always making interesting choices, and his last trip to space was for Claire Denis in High Life, and that was an absolute mind bender. Plus, maybe it’s just us, but a story about being an interchangeable and anonymous cog in a vast capitalist machine certainly has some resonance. We’re in.
