South Korean director Bong Joon-ho, best known for delivering dystopian fantasies Snowpiercer, Okja, and the Oscar-winning Parasite, has offered yet another brilliant sci-fi flick ‘Mickey 17.’ In the central role, playing Mickey Barnes is actor Robert Pattison. He is effective in the dual role of the seventeenth and eighteenth iterations of ‘expendable’ employee Mickey on planet Niflheim.
Here, in the dystopian future Earth is no longer habitable, and mankind has traveled far in space to colonize other planets. One among them is the snow-covered Niflheim, where Pattinson’s Mickey travels to hide from dangerous loan sharks. He chooses to sign up for an evil 3D-human printing experiment over being chased by goons to the end of the Earth.
All he needs to do is die multiple times. How is that possible? Well, an advanced technology — which by the way is banned on Earth for ethical reasons — allows researchers to reprint several iterations of Mickey, and these human copies are termed ‘expendables.’ In short, Mickey becomes a lab rat, he is stabbed, gassed, and burned multiple times, only to be spat out from a human printing machine to repeat the cycle.
But major trouble arises when an eighteenth iteration of Mickey is printed, while the seventeenth copy is assumed dead, giving rise to a ‘Multiples’ conflict. To note, when a situation of double printing arises, all multiples must be executed and permanently deleted. Adding to the mix is also the presence of an alien race ‘Creepers’, who might not be as vile as they’re assumed to be.
How does ‘Mickey 17’ end?
When Kenneth Marshall (Mark Ruffalo), a villainous evil politician handling Niflheim, learns about Mickey’s Multiples fiasco, he orders their execution. But before that, Kenneth kills baby creeper Luko and also captivates another infant Zoco. This leads to Mama Creeper waging an army near their spaceship. Mickey 17 and 18 are sent out with bombs attached to their suit to compete and collect creeper tails, the one who wins would be granted life.
Given that Mickey 17 was able to communicate with Mama Creeper using a translation device, they learn no humans will be harmed if Zoco is returned safely to the alien race. However, they seek a life for life, for killing Luca. In the middle of the chaos, Kenneth rushes to Mama Creeper along with his toughest soldiers to kill her but Mickey 18 saves the day. He traps Kenneth and detonates the bomb in his suit, thereby sacrificing himself but saving the alien creatures.
In the end, Nasha, Mickey’s girlfriend, manages to deliver Zoco safely to Mama Creeper and also becomes the democratic leader of humans on Niflheim. She takes the decision to destroy the 3D-human printing machine, ensuring that no clones of humans are ever made in the future. As for the alien race, the Creepers eventually find a way to harmoniously live with humans on their planet.
ALSO READ| ‘Mickey 17’ review: Robert Pattinson’s sci-fi odyssey by ‘Parasite’ director Bong Joon-Ho is only brilliant if you understand it
