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posted: March 23, 2025
tl;dr: A dark sci-fi comedy that should appeal to a younger generation of sci-fi enthusiasts...
As a huge Blade Runner fan (it’s still my favorite movie) I enjoyed Mickey 17, which takes more than a little inspiration from that sci-fi classic movie. Mickey 17 also takes place in the not-too-distant future, in which earthly civilization has devolved into a not-too-appealing environment for most people. Living on another planet is thought by many to be the answer. Unlike Blade Runner and Blade Runner 2049, which remain entirely earthbound, Mickey 17 follows the journey of a spaceship of settlers headed to establish human life on a distant planet. Near lightspeed space travel and 3-D printing technology which can manufacture new versions of humans are the two main technologies that make the events portrayed in Mickey 17 possible.
Carrying on the themes and dark mood established by Blade Runner, Mickey 17 makes the point that leaving Earth behind does not leave all its problems behind. The settlers are not a small, carefully-selected group of NASA astronauts; they are a large group of regular earthly citizens, bringing along all the traits and attitudes developed on Earth. Settling a new planet is not entirely glamorous work. When human civilization gets to that point, people will also be needed to perform mundane tasks and labor, and hence people willing to do those jobs will be needed. There may even be a need for humans who are expendable, to perform dangerous, life-threatening tasks.
The spaceship also is not a gleaming, clean creation of NASA as portrayed in 2001: A Space Odyssey. It’s actually a bit of a beater. The leader of the expedition bears no resemblance to the commanders of the Apollo missions. He’s a failed politician with a highly manipulative, stereotypical politician’s wife, looking to establish and populate a new planetary society that adheres to his perverse, warped vision. The scenes with him and his wife are often played for dark, almost cartoonish comedy, but with a sinister undertone. Mickey 17 doesn’t take itself entirely seriously, which is fortunate because I’d like to think that human settlements would not proceed as portrayed in the movie.
Actor Robert Pattison does a great job as the title character. Most of the time he portrays a pitiable, not too bright character, which he does quite well. Later in the film he portrays a similar character who is more controlling. Somehow these characters are often both on the screen at the same time, interacting with each other and occasionally physically touching each other. I have no idea of the behind-the-scenes special effects that yielded these scenes, but they are quite convincing: I detected no flaws. The only subpar special effects were some of the images of the native animals on the planet visited by the settlers. These were a bit blurry at times, as though the animation computers had not run enough CPU cycles to generate crisper images.
I saw Mickey 17 in a multiscreen cineplex in the IMAX format. I’m not a huge cinema goer, and had only ever seen IMAX documentaries in domed theaters. This was the large, flatscreen version of IMAX, so it was not what I was expecting. Still, the image was very crisp and the sound system was impressive. Several times the movie took advantage of the speakers placed far in the rear of the theater to create more of a 3-D sound experience. Still, I would not hesitate to see Mickey 17 in a traditional widescreen theater. I don’t think the movie necessarily requires IMAX, although some of the image will necessarily be lost due to cropping.
If you enjoy Mickey 17 and have not yet seen the Blade Runner movies, by all means do so.