After some delays on the release date, Mickey17 is out at Robinson Film Center, and it is worth the wait. Mickey17 follows the life of Mickey Barnes, an “expendable” on a journey to colonize the distant planet Niflheim. Mickey takes the job out of desperation to escape the life he’s living on Earth. But he didn’t read all the fine print before signing up.

In the film, technology has advanced to the place where Mickey’s body can be regenerated, or reprinted, when he dies. His memories, personality and other critical data are stored and simply downloaded into each iteration of Mickey. So he is, well, expendable. When one Mickey dies, a new one is printed and picks up where the old one left off.

Mickey17 has something for everyone. It is an action-packed sci-fi political satire with just enough rom-com for some flavor. But at its core, the film is an existential dive into the permanence of death.

You see, Mickey Barnes feels like he has no other choice. He’s running away from something on Earth, and he never considers the ramifications of what he runs to. He’s constantly asked,“What’s it like to die?” But ultimately, he winds up facing his own mortality. He faces the fact that the answer to the question is dying is scary, and he hates it. From there, Mickey begins to pursue a more important question: “What’s it like to really live?”

Mickey 17 is based on the book Mickey7 by Edward Ashton. It stars Robert Pattinson as Mickey, Naomi Ackie as Nasha, Steven Yeun as Timo, Anamaria Vartolomei as Kaiand, and Mark Ruffalo as Kenneth Marshall. It is directed by Bong Joon-ho, who also directed Oscar winning Parasite.

- Scott “Scooter” Anderson, Scooter Anderson Communications