Mickey 17 Review & Themes: Bong Joon Ho’s Bleak Sci-Fi Warning
Bong Joon Ho’s, Mickey 17 isn’t just another glossy sci-fi ride — it’s a dark, biting look at what happens when we take our worst systems off-world. Clones, contracts we never read, and a colony that feels all too familiar, if you think space will save us, think again.
A Disposable Man in a Disposable World
When I hit play on Mickey 17, I didn’t expect a film to hold up a mirror to the fine print we scroll past every single day. But that’s exactly what Bong Joon Ho does with a cloning twist that’s all too real.
There’s this moment early on: Mickey signs up to escape Earth’s creditors by heading to the stars. He lies about reading the terms & conditions,who hasn’t? It’s hilarious at first until the same contract means his life has no value beyond how many times he can be printed, used, and disposed of.
Bong is telling us: under capitalism, we’re all a little expendable. Mickey’s dinner invitation that turns into a poisoning, the casual threat of being shot (but please don’t stain the rug)- it’s grotesque because it’s true. Underneath the sci-fi sheen is a question we all dodge: when profit rules, who really counts?
Colonising Space and Our Conscience
One line that hit me hardest came from Nasha, her fury when she confronts Marshall about the CREEPERS: “They were here first.” It echoes so many real histories: the way colonisers rewrite who belongs where, erasing people who’ve always been there. It’s sharp, uncomfortable and reminds me that we’re dragging the same imperial mindset into the stars.
We won’t cross borders on Earth without a passport, but we dream of staking flags on Mars. A giant leap for technology, ten steps back for humanity. That’s Mickey 17 in a nutshell.
How This Fits Bong’s Bigger Picture
If you’ve seen Snowpiercer or Parasite, you know Bong Joon Ho loves systems, how they trap us, feed on us, pit us against each other. Mickey 17 feels like Snowpiercer meets Okja: corporate greed, human expendability, a touch of the monstrous.
But here the monster is us or rather, the parts of us we’re too comfortable ignoring: the workers who risk it all so the top keeps floating, the land (or planet) we plunder, the lies we tell ourselves that it’s all necessary.
It feels cynical, sure. But maybe it’s also a test: What if we stop treating life as disposable?
Cloning, Printing, and the End of the Self
Science fiction has played with cloning for decades , Altered Carbon, Cloud Atlas, Black Mirror. Mickey 17 does it in a way that makes you wonder: if death isn’t real, is life? If you’re always replaceable, does anyone care when you’re gone?
It’s not just about the future. We’re already here, millions of workers are chewed up by global supply chains, just to keep the shelves stocked and the boardrooms happy. We are Mickey 17, signing T&Cs we didn’t read.
One Thing You Shouldn’t Miss
When the credits roll, I hope you don’t miss the bigger question: when we take our problems off-world, do we just become intergalactic colonisers, repeating the same mistakes?
If Mickey 17 leaves you uneasy, good. That’s the point.
My One Question for Bong
Why this story? Why Mickey 7? I’d love to know what part of this bleak, funny, biting sci-fi struck him first and whether he thinks we’ll learn from it before we launch ourselves to the next planet.
Would You Sign the T&Cs?
What would you do, take the risk to start over in the stars, or face the debts at home? Would you clone yourself to survive or is that a price too high?
Let me know your thoughts in the comments and if you liked this deep dive, stick around. I’ll be unpacking more sci-fi, more myths, more dystopias soon.
Still thinking about the future?
If you loved Mickey 17, you might enjoy these reads next:
- Devs and the Limits of Free Will: a cerebral dive into another sci-fi world that questions our choices.
- Top 5 Sci-Fi TV Shows for Fans of Tech, Dystopias & Existential Angst: more stories that mess with your head (in the best way).
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