Mickey 17 (2025) is a highly anticipated sci-fi film directed by Bong Joon-ho, based on the novel Mickey7 by Edward Ashton. The movie combines thrilling space exploration with thought-provoking philosophical questions about identity, existence, and humanity.
Set in the near future, Mickey 17 follows Mickey, a worker sent on a dangerous mission as part of a colonization effort on an inhospitable planet called Niflheim. The catch? Mickey is not the first version of himself to go on this mission—he is the 17th iteration of his clone line. The “Mickey” clones are disposable laborers, genetically engineered to carry out hazardous tasks, with their lives being easily replaceable when they die.
Each “Mickey” clone retains the memories of its predecessors, but as Mickey 17 comes to realize, his sense of self is becoming increasingly fractured. His awareness of his multiple previous lives leads to an existential crisis—who is he really, and what does it mean to be “human” if he is just a copy?
When Mickey 17 is sent on a high-risk mission to explore the unknown planet, things go wrong. He faces unforeseen dangers on Niflheim and begins to uncover dark secrets about the true purpose of the colonization mission. As he struggles to survive, he must confront moral dilemmas and question the ethics of cloning, disposability, and the exploitation of human lives. Mickey 17 must also grapple with the emotional toll of living a life where death and replacement are inevitable, and identity is fluid.
