'Mickey 17': Bong Joon-ho offers a Trump-era black comedy

In 2019, South Korean filmmaker Bong Joon-ho made history by becoming the first director to ever win best film at the Oscars with a movie that was not in English, "Parasite."

But before this Palme d'Or-winning work, the director had also made other films that were predominantly in English, such as "Snowpiercer" (2013) and "Okja" (2017).

He now returns with another English-language feature, titled "Mickey 17." The sci-fi comedy, starring Robert Pattinson, Steven Yeun, Toni Collette and Mark Ruffalo, celebrated its world premiere at the 2025 Berlin International Film Festival.

The film, which is based on Edward Ashton's 2022 sci-fi novel "Mickey 7," is set in the year 2054. Many people on Earth seem desperate to leave their home planet, flocking to join a mission to colonize the planet Nilfheim.

Among them is Mickey Barnes (Pattinson), an aimless young man who faces major debts following a failed business venture with his selfish partner, Berto (Steven Yeun). They both hope to flee from their sadistic loan shark and find their way onto the mission.

Reprinted forever as an 'expendable'

While most of the other recruits are either fanatical supporters of the mission's leader, or people with useful qualifications for the space program, the untrained Mickey picks the job nobody wants: "expendable." The expendable is the crew member who serves as the guinea pig on the most dangerous missions or lab tests. Every time the expendable dies, he can simply be "reprinted" thanks to a cloning technology recreating the person's body and soul, using the ship's organic waste.

From the original Mickey, different versions of Robert Pattinson's character are sacrificed in satirically inhumane ways. Each Mickey pursues the lethal work without complaining too much; he's fortunate enough to have regular updates that save all the latest psychological developments in his life, allowing him to build a romantic relationship with another crew member, security officer Nasha (Naomi Ackie). 

At some point in the mission, Mickey 17 ends up facing his "duplicate," the 18th version of himself, who was printed when the former was thought dead.

A narcissistic over-the-top leader

While Mickey 17 is a bit naive and compassionate, his successor has a more aggressive approach. The two Mickeys' opposing personalities — and the fact that only one of them is allowed to live at a time — make them enemies, but also potential allies when the time comes to save the new planet from the destructive plans of the mission's leader, Kenneth Marshall (Mark Ruffalo), a charismatic former politician turned cult leader.

Mark Ruffalo's interpretation of the racist and narcissistic ruler combines impressions of Donald Trump and the entitled, petulant character he played in "Poor Things." Adulated by his wife, Ylfa (Toni Collette), Marshall promotes his persona through late night shows. Even though all crew members on the ship survive on rationed calories and live in minimalist cabins, the commanding couple enjoy vast quarters furnished in Mar-a-Lago aesthetics.

And Marshall's supporters who sign up to join the mission are people from the underprivileged class who all wear red caps and hats — an unmistakable nod to "Make America Great Again" .

It's not meant to be subtle; in that way, the film also echoes' the brazen style adopted by today's populists.

Asked at the press conference ahead of the premiere if Ruffalo's brash gestures were intended as a parody of President Donald Trump, Bong Joon-ho said he was rather inspired by various rulers: "Some of the people I took as a reference were some of Korea's bad leaders of the past, or dictators from elsewhere, but I didn't use any actual politicians from today," the director said. "I created this character in a comical way by drawing inspiration from past figures, but since history always repeats itself, it might seem like I'm referring to someone in the present," Bong added. 

Nevertheless, one critic described Ruffalo's performance as the "best Trump of our generation."

A film 'about humanity'

Bong is renowned for works that openly criticize capitalism, class inequality and corporate greed, but the filmmaker points out that he doesn't make "films just for the sake of political satire. I'd never want films to just become propaganda."

With "Mickey 17," he offers genre-bending entertainment that also touches on various existential questions, such as what makes up an individual's personality; or what it means to die and to love. It's a film "about humanity. The story of Mickey revolves around an ordinary powerless and vulnerable young man," concludes Bong.

When a dystopia is more cheerful than reality

Despite the dystopian setting of "Mickey 17," the film's outlook is surprisingly optimistic. Shot in 2022, before Trump's return to power, it portrays a world in which Kenneth Marshall-like authoritarian leaders and their cult following are ridiculous figures that can be easily eliminated.

But as many humorists have noted since Trump's first election in 2016, the reality TV star-turned president is so frustratingly surreal that it's almost impossible to satirize him without being surpassed by the absurdity of his actual deeds.

And today, as Trump tests the limits of his presidential power, and as his ally Elon Musk hopes to colonize Mars, all while drastically reshaping the US government without guardrails, some elements of "Mickey 17" feel a little too close to home to be just for laughs. Black comedy provides cathartic release, but at the end of the film, we realize we are still stuck in an even more unsettling ride — led by much darker, real-life characters who can't be dismissed as a joke.

"Mickey 17" is released on March 6 in Germany and a day later in the US.

Edited by Tanya Ott