Mickey 17

Mickey 17 is an obscurely funny movie. I say that because even though I actually enjoyed watching this movie. Mickey 17 is very weird. I had very high hopes for this movie based on it being Robert Pattinson’s next big project. But especially after seeing a trailer in theaters, it looked like it had the potential to be a classic. But I mean you could say that about almost any movie nowadays, even though in most cases it never pans out in the end.

Unfortunately for Mickey 17. It came up just short of entering that classic sci-fi movie territory. Instead, it will probably end up being more of a cult classic. Reason being Mickey 17 has an acquired taste to it. And no, I’m not talking about the kind of acquired taste you would need to try one of Toni Collette’s character sauces. I've never seen someone so obsessed with sauce. This is supposed to be a Sci-Fi/Thriller, not Worst Cooks in America. I’m referring more to this movie being a little bit out there, but it has an eclectic nature to it.

I can definitely see the reaction to this movie being a mixed bag. It’s more of a film that you either love or hate. Personally, I’m more on the love side of the argument. But at the same time, I'm not fully committed either because I left the theater with so many questions. But I also left wanting to see it again. Granted I know there were still probably some things I missed. Just due to how much I was actively thinking about Mickey 17 as a concept.

See, Mickey 17 conceptually on its own is great. Just based on a pitch alone, I can see how any studio would want to green light this movie. Just think about it for a second. What if you got hired as a disposable employee? Which basically makes you a clone. Then they send you on a mission to save humanity from extinction. How you might ask? By first getting on a spaceship and traveling to another world but they need your help to make sure it’s safe. And how do you think they will go about doing that? By essentially being a human guinea pig. And there's is no need to worry because if anything goes wrong. Or right, depending on who you ask. They can just print you out again with all of your memories intact. Sounds like a great job right?

And then you add a star like Robert Pattinson to the top of the call sheet. There's no way they can mess this up. I mean, in theory, this movie should be printing money. Plus, who hasn’t had the desire to be in two places at once before? The idea of being able to clone yourself is not a new concept, but this movie puts its own spin on it. Cloning technology has been explored and expressed in many different ways. Whether it was displayed in a more scientific style, like on Kamino in Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Or as a superpower in something like Invincible. So, how do you make this movie a unique experience? You make the cloner look and sound like a janky printer. Oh yeah, and you spend the first 30 minutes of the movie dehumanizing the main character.

They basically said, what if we take away the selfish aspect of being able to clone yourself out of it? And let's make a movie about sacrifice and empathy. But spin it as a push for the advancement of humanity? And by sacrifice, I mean you have to be okay with dying pretty much every day. Enter the Expendables program. You’d have to be crazy to subject yourself to something like that. Or desperate, which is where we find the main character of this story, Mickey Barnes. Desperate to get off of Earth because of a business venture gone bad. And by bad, I mean you got a crazy loan shark after you who has an affinity for chainsaws. Thus Mickey 17 was born, or should I say printed.

Now the Expendables program is one thing. It makes you really ponder the sociopolitical aspect of whether or not this should even be a thing. If the technology ever existed. Cause the way they dehumanized Mickey throughout the film was a wild thing to watch. For me, it was just the lack of care the scientist showed during all of the different “jobs”. The only thing that mattered was the results for them. They no longer saw him as a real person cause if anything went wrong, or “right”. They could just print out another one. By signing that contract, he lost basically all agency. And became a tool to use at their discretion.

But where this movie really takes a turn is when “Multiples” gets introduced. Because prior to that, the setup for this movie was actually pretty good. I was invested almost immediately. Plus, using Mickey to narrate this wacky scenario was comedy. Now, waking up to another version of yourself is jarring in and of itself. To jump straight to the "It's either you or me" mindset, frame one is even wilder to me. That speaks to the level of programming and belittling Mickey faced on a day-to-day basis. To come to that conclusion as being the only solution is crazy work. It’s a difficult thing to come to grips with as a viewer, too. But don’t worry, they don’t spend too much time on it cause Mickey 18 is a menace in more ways than one. If you’ve seen Challengers, then you know exactly what I mean.

Now, if I were to describe Mickey 17 in one word, it would be "layered". Because beyond the jokes and freaky weird parts of this movie. There are some really thought-provoking nuggets at the core of it. Some that they dive deeper into and some that they don’t. But regardless of which one got your attention, Mickey 17 will have you scratching your head like... Why did they choose to include this or leave out that? If you haven’t guessed by now, I’m talking about the Creepers. The roly-poly-like creatures that inhabit the planet, which is suitably named Nilfheim.

Fun fact: Mark Ruffalo’s character Kenneth Marshall named the planet Nilfheim. And I’m playing through God of War Ragnarök right now on live stream, so if you wanna see me get bodied by berserkers and Thor. Stop by the stream and let’s talk. I just thought it was a crazy coincidence. But to get back on track, Mark Ruffalo was pretty good in this movie even though his character was just the worst. On purpose, by the way, I want to make it clear. One thing that Mickey 17 proved to me was that not only does Mark Ruffalo have range, but so does Robert Pattinson. Even though he had Mickey 18 go full Batman sometimes. I really enjoyed most of the characters and the acting in this movie. For me, it’s the direction of the story that causes this movie to stumble a bit.

I thought Mickey 17 was going to be more about how we keep the fact that we’re multiples a secret. Verses things getting political over some space roly-poly’s. And before I get cooked in the comments, I’m not saying we shouldn’t get political over space roly-poly’s. All I’m saying is that this was not where I was expecting us to go. Plus, the Creepers are not the only sociopolitical topic that gets screen time in this movie. So you could definitely say they were found in good company. It’s just a hard left I wasn’t expecting to make towards the end of the movie.

If we are keeping it a buck. The Creepers were the key to Mickey rediscovering his own worth again. You know, outside of the self-preservation side of things. That goes for both Mickey 17 and 18. Whether it was compassion or pity. Something changed that would change the course of the entire movie. Granted, it's not the way I would have gone about it, but aye I see what they were trying to do.

One thing that I haven’t addressed yet is that this movie was based on a book. Mickey 7 to be exact. So there are only so many creative liberties one can take. Before flying too close to the sun and losing the core of the story. So personally, I always like to offer some grace when it comes to situations like this. Even though I didn’t read the book, I can see why most of the time the books end up being better than the film. Cause things like Creepers end up looking better in our imagination than on the big screen. The little nuances found in the books can sometimes get lost in translation.

But to bring things back full circle, even though I’m not the biggest fan of where the plot took us. I can’t deny they did a good job of telling it. Or should I say showing it? For as whimsical as this movie was, they really were able to turn it on for the finale. The writing may have been on the wall for how things were gonna end, but those monologues were hitting. Naomi Ackie stole this show, so to speak. In those final moments, she really brought home the idea of cherishing life even in death. Seeing Nasha in those flashbacks hit different in that moment.

Sure, it's true that most of the scientists may be a little heartless. But that doesn’t mean we should be. Which is why I think it’s important that the movie is called Mickey 17 versus just Mickey 7 like in the book. Seeing Mickey get bodied that many times can do a number on the brain. Because they kind of desensitize us to the fact that Mickey is still a human being with feelings. And almost more importantly, he still has his memories, so he remembers everything. Even if he can’t always express it. And you know what they say, it's easier to forgive than forget.

Even though he can just get reprinted, it's not like he is playing Call of Duty, and he can simply respawn and go again. That memory part of things makes things very tricky. And yes, we are all aware that he signed the contract, and he didn’t have the best background. But he still deserved to be treated like a real person. And sure, this movie is kind of funny and kind of out there. But it’s the subtle messaging that makes this movie good to me, which is why I gave Mickey 17 an 8/10 G-Files Score.