The trailer for Mickey 17, Oscar winning director Bong Joon-ho’s latest sc-fi film, is, quite literally, a circle of life (and death) for Robert Pattinson. After his film Parasite swept the globe and brought home four Oscars, South Korean director Bong Joon-ho returns with a brand new thriller featuring Rob Pattinson as the titular Mickey Barnes. Also joining him are Hollywood stars such as Mark Ruffalo, Steve Yeun, Naomi Ackie and Toni Collette in this unusual film based on Edward Ashton’s novel.
Would you sign up for a job that requires you to die for it? Set in space, the film follows the various “lifetimes” of Mickey as he cycles through life, and death. All part of the job description as an “expendable” in an unusual job that clones him back to life the minute he’s killed off for one reason or another. Whether it’s death by incineration or being eaten by giant Artic creatures it’s just business as usual for Mickey and the company. That is .. until one of his clones managed to survive and meets the current version…
Whilst the premise of Mickey being unalived for the nth time sounds pretty grim, there are moments of levity courtesy of Bong Joon-ho’s signature dark humour. Think Mickey’s hand getting unexpectedly cut off right at the moment he’s reaching for the sun … to said hand floating off into oh you know … in front of oblivious diners ….
Mickey 17 is scheduled for release to general audiences in 2025.
