By Eliana Miller
Mickey 17 is a new movie freshly in theatres as of March 7th, 2025. While this movie has not gotten back its money in the box office so far, Rotten Tomatoes ratings are surprisingly good with a 79%. The movie follows our main character Mickey as he goes through challenging journeys and is killed over and over again, coming back each time as a new “printed” self. Throughout this film, we see how Mickey is affected by this printing process along with his lover, but the story goes deeper than that.
Summary: Spoilers Ahead!
At the beginning of our story, we learn that Mickey and a friend borrowed an extensive amount of money from loan sharks. These loan sharks make an unpleasant threat to Mickey and his friend. Having no other way to escape, a new space expedition is the only option left to evade these sharks. They can’t reach them if they’re in space, right? Mickey signs the paper for an easy way out, being an employee on the ship, but he does not read the paper all the way through. This will eventually lead him to lots of pain, problems, “printing”, and death.
Once in space, Mickey quickly realizes that the food sucks, and most people who signed up for this expedition are part of a cult-like political party. Kenneth Marshall, the leader of this cult, and his wife, Ylfa, run the place in (almost) full control. We learn throughout the movie that Kenneth Marshall thinks of himself as a God and wants to please the church along with his wife.
After being in space for a while, Mickey is used for experiments, dangerous missions, and deadly repair jobs around the ship. Eventually, we are caught up to where Mickey is in the present: at the bottom of a snowy ravine with aliens coming to get him. Mickey thinks that this will be his 17th time dying, and that this is it. To his surprise, the aliens actually help him out of the ravine and back to the ship. When Mickey returns, however, he finds a new version of him has already been printed. The two Mickeys are called multiples (aka clones), which Kenneth Marshall had vowed to exterminate. The reason for this is the creator of the printer multiplied himself and committed crimes. So, as to not repeat history, all Mickey clones have to be killed.
The Mickey clones go into hiding with the help of their girlfriend, Nasha, but this doesn’t last very long though. When they get caught, things in the movie start to pick up quickly.
The Mickey clones fight, eventually get caught and then told that they’re going to die. After that, they get thrown into jail, then escape jail. They realize the loan sharks have followed them into space, so they try to kill the person working for the loan sharks. However, they leave him alive before getting caught again. They are sent to go to see Kenneth Marshall, along with Nasha, who then tells them they’re all going to die–again. Ylfa changes Kenneth’s mind and instead says the Mickeys should fight for one of them to live by cutting off the most tails of the aliens who had been circling the ship. The Mickeys are strapped with bombs, sent out, and instead of cutting up the aliens, they communicate with them. Finally, Mickey ends up killing Kenneth Marshall along with Mickey 18 (the clone) unfortunately.
The movie ends with Nasha becoming the “president” of the ship and this new planet that they are inhabiting. Mickey has a nightmare that Ylfa reprints Kenneth Marshall, but finally ends with Mickey blowing up the human printer.
Hidden Meanings
Some big political meanings are hidden within this movie, at least according to some. In an interview with director Bong Joon Ho at SlashFilm, when responding to a question about what Americans can learn from Mickey 17, he had this to say: “I sense the clear intentions of your question with Marshall’s character played by Mark Ruffalo. [Laughs] If you ask us, is it a satire of a particular character? I think it’ll be difficult for Mark and I to say “No, absolutely” to that. [Laughs] But even in Korea, there was recently some political turmoil, and not-so-good things happened. Yeah. And in the modern age, all of us have gone through bad leaders and political sufferings, and I kind of wanted all of that to be mixed into this character.”
Another big point in Mickey 17 is the idea of “expendables” (a worker that is disposable). Some outlets, such as Futurism, talk deeply on the idea that this could be a future for human labor, saying “Mickey 17 is more than just a sci-fi thriller—it’s a wake-up call.” The hidden idea within this movie is that big companies do not care about their employees because they will “just come back.” If we replace disposables in Mickey 17 as new employees being recruited/hired, it makes sense.
With all of these hidden meanings, political and social issues, Mickey 17 has to be seen as more than just a silly movie. It should be an eye opener.
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