Mikey 17 review and its political significance!

Written by Zoe Levesque and Eloise Bramer 05/21/25.

Cloning isn’t the problem-WE ARE! Is the Mickey 17 movie worth your time?

Upon joining the stand, Eloise and Zoe were sure that their first article HAD to be a movie review. As you may know, it was recently May 4, 2025, and the 20th anniversary of Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, so of course, it was decided this review would be written on… Mickey 17? Yeah, it turns out that booking movie tickets at the theatre and being late to the movie are not a match made in heaven if you want to see said movie on its 20th anniversary. Lesson well learned. 

In a frantic attempt to not waste the five dollar movie ticket Tuesday, we booked the last movie that had two seats left,. the popcorn wasn’t going to eat itself. We entered a little late but even if we got there on time the movie was complex. 

This sci-fi movie stars Robert Patterson who played Mickey Barnes, a guy from earth who made some very poor financial decisions,  so his plan of escape was to go to… space?? Running away from your problems much? But instead of reading the positions available on this ship, he chooses at random and likely blindly picks the WORST possible option. Mickey chose an “expendable” which is just someone who can be cloned once they die so scientists can perform literally any tests with zero consequences. New vaccine you need to test, repair outside the spaceship, or assessing the toxicity of your new planet's atmosphere? Mickey’s the guy to call. Not exactly what I would have chosen but to each their own I guess. So when Mickey joins the ship he has no clue what this job is until he gets cloned after his first death?? Although the real story starts with Mickey 17, the seventeenth Mickey and the movie's namesake.

On the ship, there is a lot going on. The leader of the ship, Kenneth Marshall (Mark Ruffalo) is a crazy dictator and failed politician who has no clue what’s going on with his wife (Toni Collette), truly taking charge. They are trying to colonize the ice planet of Nifflebrawn. This crazy leader even says that “we are going to make this the best white planet ever” showing some questionable morals. 

On the planet Nifflebrawn, there is a native population of creepers as Kenneth calls them. Not the creepers in Minecraft, rather cute, cuddly, winter caterpillars that Kenneth has labeled the “villains” of the movie. Of course, we COMPLETELY disagree because they are the cutest thing we have ever seen. So Mickey 17 is tasked to go on a mission to retrieve a creeper for further studying, being used as bait in an ice cave. Seeing as the colony still think these creatures are vicious monsters, they are under the assumption that he died when he doesn’t return immediately (spoiler, he didn’t) so they re-printed him as Mickey 18. Yes, there are two Mickey’s at this moment which becomes a really big ethical dilemma. We don’t want to spoil much more, so we won’t expand further. 

Now that you have a very brief introduction into the plot of the movie, let’s do a little bit of a deep dive into one of the main characters, Kenneth Marshall. Past his portrayal by Mark Ruffalo, there was this sense of… familiarity we felt upon seeing Kenneth. At first we weren’t quite sure why. He was just a regular self absorbed, delusional politician. With a fake tan. And a bunch of crazed supporters wearing red hats. And sentences that are borderline gibberish. And a little dance- omg this is Trump. Yeah so the villain of Mickey 17 is just an extended, SNL style, caricature of the 47th president of the United States, and the theatre was loving it. At first glance, this just appeared to be a humorous aspect to the film, but upon closer inspection, this visual comparison goes far deeper.

This movie was written and directed by Boon Joon Ho who also wrote/ directed "Parasite" and if you remember, it won best picture at the 2020 Oscars so, it’s probably pretty good. But in response to this award, Donald Trump said, and I quote, “What the hell was that all about? We’ve got enough problems with South Korea with trade. On top of that, they give them best movie of the year. Was it good? I don’t know.” So, in retaliation, Boon Jon Ho made Mickey 17, a movie about a corrupt dictator who fails to colonize this planet. Although the director denies it's about Trump, it was very obvious.

Throughout the movie, there are many visual and contextual parallels that subtly and hilariously tie Kenneth to the President, so much so that it is hard to tell if some of them are intentional, or hilarious coincidences. For example, an unclear joke occurred when creepers were unleashed during a filming of Kenneth’s on ship talk show. At the same time, Mickey 18 attempts an assasination on the politician. In the pandemonium, Kenneth turns his head right as Mickey fires his gun, causing the bullet to lightly graze his cheek. The parallels to the assasination attempt of Trump last July are striking. Initially, you might have assumed, as we did, that this was a mocking play on this event, until you realize that the filming of Mickey 17 wrapped in 2022. 

After watching the movie, it really exceeded our expectations (which weren’t high, but still). There was a half-decent plot and some pretty good graphics. It was a sci-fi film so if that's not your thing don't see it, like really you WON’T like it. Although, if sci-fi is something you enjoy then please go see it, especially if you are someone who loves to look out for inside jokes and hidden meanings. Our theater was full so there were definitely some people who wanted to see this sci-fi comedy. Overall, even though it wasn’t our first choice to watch, it was definitely really good, laugh out loud, feel good movie… and it was five dollars so, no regrets!