It’s the fine print that’ll get you. Or maybe just the paperwork in general. Such is the fate of Mickey Barnes (Robert Pattinson), who signs up to be an “expendable” without quite understanding what that means. It means, for one thing, inhaling lots of terrible viruses. And getting run over by space bugs. And a whole bunch of other horrifying ways to die—and then be reprinted, over and over again.
Mickey 17 comes from Parasite director Bong Joon Ho, who also wrote the screenplay (based on the novel by Edward Ashton), and looks like it might be the best thing to hit screens this year. This trailer—as one expects from a Bong film—is tonally just right, funny, tragic, funny again, and also consistently horrifying every time you pause to think about the existential bits. Pattinson, doing a voice that is apparently more Ren & Stimpy than Steve-O, is heartfelt and weird at once, which is one of his specialities. And the rest of the cast—Mark Ruffalo, Steven Yeun, Toni Collette, and Naomi Ackie—seems, well, perfectly cast.
The only summary on offer for Mickey 17 is this: “The unlikely hero, Mickey Barnes (Robert Pattinson) has found himself in the extraordinary circumstance of working for an employer who demands the ultimate commitment to the job… to die, for a living.” And somehow he’s going to save mankind along the way? Can’t wait to find out how that works. Mickey 17 is in theaters March 7th.
