Five years after his last release, Parasite, won Best Picture at the Academy Awards (and also earned him Oscars for Best Director and Best Screenplay), Bong Joon-ho is finally back with a new movie. According to the first reactions from critics on social media, Mickey 17 is worth the wait. Returning the filmmaker to the sci-fi genre, the movie offers a dark but weird political satire and a must-see performance from Robert Pattinson as multiple “expendable” clones.
Here’s what critics are saying about Mickey 17:
Bong Joon-ho has crafted another masterpiece with Mickey 17… [his] best English-language film yet.
— BJ Colangelo, Slashfilm
Rest assured that Bong Joon-ho is still very good at making movies.
— David Ehrlich, IndieWire
Director Bong skillfully balances the absurdity and satire with some nice sci-fi world building.
— Matt Maytum, The Movie Wingman
Mickey 17 is… what I love about Bong Joon-Ho’s work.
— Rachel Leishman, The Mary Sue
Mickey 17 is a fascinating work.
— Chase Hutchinson, The Playlist
Full of ideas Bong Joon-ho has played around with before but wrapped in a sci-fi package, it’s his Starship Troopers.
— Chase Hutchinson, The Playlist
Bong Joon-ho’s sense of humor is both subtle and brash when needed, even evoking Paul Verhoeven at times à la Starship Troopers.
— Andrew J. Salazar, Discussing Film
[It’s] an Okja-fied version of Moon, but better than that elevator pitch.
— Barry Hertz, Globe and Mail
Mickey 17 is weird, twisted… truly some of the most out there storytelling there.
— Rachel Leishman, The Mary Sue
Zany… a thrilling, unexpected sci-fi drama.
— Emily Murray, Total Film
Deeply chaotic.
— Barry Hertz, Globe and Mail
Chaotically charismatic.
— Liam Crowley, Screen Rant
It is a hard hitting look at colonization, consumerism, and more.
— Rachel Leishman, The Mary Sue
[It’s] a deeply heartfelt and uncomfortably funny musing on capitalism, colonization, and corruption… a perfect film for our time.
— BJ Colangelo, Slashfilm
[It] feels incredibly urgent to today’s world.
— Emily Murray, Total Film
This was the exact film I needed at this chaotic moment.
— Chris O’Falt, IndieWire
It left me with a new POV on humanity and morality.
— Liam Crowley, Screen Rant
You’ll instantly fall for Robert Pattinson’s brilliant performance.
— Emily Murray, Total Film
Robert Pattinson delivers a crazy subversive and hilarious dual performance.
— Andrew J. Salazar, Discussing Film
Robert Pattinson [gives] a performance that sounded a helluva lot like Steve Buscemi.
— Chase Hutchinson, The Playlist
Robert Pattinson is great many times over.
— Matt Maytum, The Movie Wingman
Robert Pattinson is a blast to see playing different characters.
— John Nguyen, Nerd Reactor
You can never have “too many” Robert Pattinsons.
— Rachel Leishman, The Mary Sue
Pattinson gets truly lost in this role.
— Liam Crowley, Screen Rant
Mark Ruffalo’s sleazy politician [is] a highlight, too.
— Emily Murray, Total Film
Ruffalo steals every scene.
— Liam Crowley, Screen Rant
Ruffalo does [the] best Trump of our generation because he correctly infuses it with Goggins’s Baby Billy.
— Barry Hertz, Globe and Mail
The movie pivots to having very familiar and obvious political parallels… making it feel too real to be as fun as it wants to be.
— Germain Lussier, io9.com
I wish it was coated in more traditional darkness, less black comedy.
— Liam Crowley, Screen Rant
I felt it was a lost opportunity focusing the third act on the otherworldly threats instead of seeing the drama of the Mickeys play out. I think it would have worked better as a series.
— John Nguyen, Nerd Reactor
Mickey 17 opens in theaters on March 7, 2025.
