Mickey (Robert Pattinson) is a well-meaning simpleton who has been borrowing a chunkload of money from a loan shark (Ian Hanmore) he invested into the wrong business - and now the loan shark wants his money back, and threatens to kill Mickey if he fails to pay up. But of course, Mickey has no hope of ever getting the kind of money he owes, so he decides to flee earth on an expedition to an ice planet which an adoration hungry failed politician, Kenneth Marshall (Mark Ruffalo), who together with his wife Ylfa (Toni Collette) wants to colonize with a bunch of his followers. Now Mickey has no qualifications to be of any help to this mission, and neither is he actually a Marshall-follower, so he joins the ranks the only way he can make himself useful - as an "expendable" .... and of course, he hasn't read the fine print of his contract, otherwise he'd know an expendable on this mission means he's to be exposed to all sorts of lethal experiments so the scientists of the team can prepare the colonists for life on the ice planet, and every time he dies, a new version of his body is printed out with all of Mickey's memories intact - including his multiple deaths. By now Mickey has died 16 times, and the 17th iteration gets stranded in a cave on the planet and abandoned by the survey team as it's too much of a bother to save him when they just can print him out again. And soon enough, Mickey finds out he's not alone in the cave, it's actually an abode of the local monster population who soon close in on him - and drag him out of their cave unscathed and leave him to walk back to the colonist ship - where he has to realize another Mickey has been printed out since as he was presumed dead. Only that other self, Mickey 18, isn't quite as mild-mannered as he is, plus Mickey's girlfriend Nasha (Naomi Ackie) feels herself drawn between the two - since Mickey 17 isn't up for a threesome that is. And when Mickey 18 tries to assassinate Marshall, all hell breaks loose, and ultimately both Mickeys end up in the slammer. Then the local monster community mpves in on the colonist ship, and Marshall, basically wanting to get rid of two problems all at once, sends out both Mickeys to slaughter their way through the monsters. But Mickey 17 has a special connection to them and tries to use this to his - and the whole colonist community's - advantage ...

Despite all of its science fiction coating, Mickey 17 is actually a rather brilliant satire on the current political climate of the USA, but one that also works taken out of the actual context and seen as more or a parable. And if there's one thing that I would critique about the movie is that it tries to hit too many targets all at once, so the story as such sometimes suffers. But what makes Mickey 17 then is that it takes its science fiction roots seriousty, creates a within the limits of the genre believable world that feels well lived in, warts and all - and it's carried by a rather first grade cast for sure. That said, the film flopped on a reported $118 million budget - which says little about the actual quality and just proves satire isn't necessarily for everyone, making the big budget a questiuonable decision to begin with - for my own sake I'm happy it was made as I was very well-entertained.

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

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