Mickey 17 (2025)
Directed by Bong Joon Ho
Unlikely hero Mickey Barnes finds himself in the extraordinary circumstance of working for an employer who demands the ultimate commitment to the job… to die, for a living.
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42 films that influenced Mickey 17
What critics say influenced Mickey 17
The Creepers themselves make for a highly memorable depiction of alien life, and are very much reminiscent of Jung-hoo’s previous masterpiece, Okja, which similarly highlighted issues around animal rights and environmental exploitation.
…a continuation of the fixations of Snowpiercer and Okja…
Okja‘s commentary on how natural denizens of Earth are violated for profit becomes more apparent in Mickey 17‘s Miyazakian midpoint turn…
…the grotesquely cute creature designs from Okja seem recycled for the planet’s furry, tentacle-faced inhabitants.
Like Okja (2017), the film leans heavily into our relationship and exploitation of the environment around us.
Visually, Mickey 17 is closer to Snowpiercer and Okja than it is to Parasite or Mother, which means it’s colorful and fancifully designed…
The need to advance technology and medicine to try and self-insert themselves into the history books is reminiscent of themes explored in Snowpiercer, just not as well executed.
…a continuation of the fixations of Snowpiercer and Okja…
With Snowpiercer, he told the story literally and horizontally — the plebes in the back of the train are exploited by the elite at the front.
Snowpiercer‘s class commentary shines through in the ways that Marshall and his wife, Ylfa (Toni Collette), inhabit a luxurious, massive room that evokes a mansion more than a spaceship, regularly eating meats in a higher corner of the ship, while Mickey, Nasha, and other such laborers and inhabitants on the ship are sleeping in smaller bunks, worn down and with very little attention to maintenance.
The new sci-fi thriller borrows the snowy terrain and gritty retro-futurism of Snowpiercer for exploring a planet ripe for colonization…
This time, Bong Joon Ho is interested in crafting a vast open world, reminiscent of Snowpiercer, yet possessing its own unique charm.
Even the house from Parasite seems to make an aesthetic reappearance at one point in the film…
…even with some distant echoes of Parasite that never come through as they should…
With Parasite he made it vertical (you know the shot I’m thinking of) and argued that even those at the perceived top of the chain are also victims of exploitation.
Parasite encapsulated this within a glass house…
Though it’s as grim and urgent as Parasite and Okja…
Less Parasite, more Okja and Snowpiercer.
Bong’s filmography – from 2006’s “The Host” to 2017’s “Okja” – often tackles themes of identity, society and class warfare, which “Mickey 17” pushes further with a Trump-like politician played by Mark Ruffalo.
…from his home country canon of The Host and Parasite…
…across The Host, Snowpiercer and Okja…
Gwoemul (The Host) – 2006…
…the perfect monster mash of “The Host” (2006)…
Bong is no stranger to exaggerated performances, but they work much better in his Korean films – as in The Host, where the funniest moment and the most emotional moment are the same scene.
Like other characters in Bong’s filmography—say, the arrested, developmentally delayed son in 2009’s Mother—Mickey’s mental gears appear to grind a bit more slowly than most people’s…
Mickey 17 ultimately falls short of expectations, and that is particularly painful given Bong's track record with masterpieces like Parasite (2019), Memories of Murder (2003), Mother (2009), and Snowpiercer (2013).
Parasite. Snowpiercer. Okja. Mother. Boon Joon Ho has long been a force within the film world.
Madeo (Mother) – 2009…
…it’s not in the more grounded dramatic exercises that he’s created along the lines of Parasite, Memories of Murder (2003), and Mother (2009)…
Bong, with critically-acclaimed films such as “Parasite,”“Snowpiercer,” “Mother”, “The Host” and “Memories of Murder,” is one of the most unique, interesting and unpredictable genre blenders in cinema.
…from his 2000 debut “Barking Dogs Never Bite”…
Flandersui gae (Barking Dogs Never Bite) – 2000…
…veering more towards his absurdist lens, which originally put him on the map with Barking Dogs Never Bite…
The final act’s resolution—reminiscent of Starship Troopers but lacking its satirical bite—feels rushed and overly tidy.
At times, Bong gets a little too close to the same territory covered by Starship Troopers, but the effect is more potent in 2025 than Verhoeven’s classic.
It’s Bond’s Moonraker meets Groundhog Day meets Multiplicity with Starship Troopers thrown in for good measure.
…it doesn't even play like a standard genre trope, but specifically like a blend of Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind and the film version of Starship Troopers…
…the general details of the premise were also better portrayed in “Edge of Tomorrow” (2014)…
That live-die-repeat cycle last popped up as an action motif in the visceral video-game-inflected 2014 Edge of Tomorrow…
…one might expect a darkly humorous death montage in the vein of Edge of Tomorrow…
…with costume designs and ideas reminiscent of La Jetée and Brazil—films that explore the perception of reality versus one's future.
…reminiscent of films like Terry Gilliam’s Brazil…
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Both the spare, thoughtful “Moon” (2009) and the big, delightful “Oblivion” (2013) tower over “Mickey 17” by portraying similar ideas…
The setup is a brilliant one that feels very reminiscent of the 2009 sci-fi film Moon, which featured a similar premise based around corporate exploitation of cloning.
…the general details of the premise were also better portrayed in “Edge of Tomorrow” (2014) and “Source Code” (2011).
…looks like Mr. Snuffleupagus crossed wires with Arrival’s heptapod…
…and Denis Villeneuve’s Arrival (2016)…
They’re more a combination of everything from Sandworms in Dune to the multi-opening orifices in Alien:Romulus…
…they realize they aren’t the only ones trying to forge their path, similar to Dune…
It’s Bond’s Moonraker meets Groundhog Day meets Multiplicity with Starship Troopers thrown in for good measure.
Pattinson’s Mickey, for instance, is human scum, sacrificed Groundhog Day-style for the greater humankind.
It’s Bond’s Moonraker meets Groundhog Day meets Multiplicity with Starship Troopers thrown in for good measure.
Bong gifts us a Mickey 17 spin on that bed scene in Challengers…
They even get steamy with her in a scene that resembles the threesome love triangle from Challengers.
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Mark Ruffalo, hamming it up as if his “Poor Things” character became Donald Trump…
Mark Ruffalo is off-key as the Trumpian politician — he repeats the same pitch and tone as with his “Poor Things” character.
Ruffalo is just too broad, especially compared to his more nuanced turn as a blustering fool in Poor Things.
Academy Award nominee Mark Ruffalo (Poor Things)…
…their self-centered, authoritarian leader Kenneth Marshall (Mark Ruffalo, of Poor Things)…
Ruffalo jumps into comedy mode again, proving that Poor Things was not a fluke.
…with costume designs and ideas reminiscent of La Jetée and Brazil—films that explore the perception of reality versus one's future.