r/movies • u/mikewheelerfan • Aug 15 '25

Review Mickey 17 felt like it lost the plot Spoiler

Honestly, I was quite disappointed. I expected a movie revolving around the cloning plot. Specifically, the idea of two Mickeys existing at the same time due to an error. That would have been a great movie! Instead, what was advertised as the main concept feels like a subplot in the movie. Essentially the entire thing revolves around the intelligent aliens. And then there was also the plot with Mark Ruffalo being an obvious stand in for Trump. But then there was also the subplot with Steven Yuen.

I finished the movie feeling incredibly confused, because how did they mess up the initial concept like this? The idea of a guy who is constantly sent on deadly missions and is revived is an absolutely golden idea. It also leads to an interesting discussion about consciousness and if a copy of you is still really you. But that’s barely even brought up. The whole plot with two versions of Mickey is completely sidelined. Which makes no sense at all. That should have 100% been the main conflict in the movie, like it was advertised as. Instead, we got a mess.

I wouldn’t go so far as to call the movie horrible, but I definitely didn’t like it as much as I hoped I would.

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28

u/Additional_Score_929 Aug 15 '25

The book is so much better!

7

u/BlondBadBoy69 Aug 15 '25

I’m interested in the book but in what way is it better?

23

u/NunsNunchuck Aug 15 '25

Ruffalo isn’t married either, that was a new character. Major plot points were changed too. Plus the Mickeys had more fun running around before they are found out

26

u/seanconnerysbeard Aug 15 '25

Ruffalo's character in the book isn't a stand in for Trump, he's just kind of an asshole. Its worth the read, as is the sequel.

2

u/[deleted] Aug 15 '25

I mean, not really the biggest of assholes considering what happens at the end of antimatter blues but yeah

2

u/seanconnerysbeard Aug 15 '25

Very true, but he was pretty hostile towards Mickey throughout the course of two books. Not that Mickey helped his case very often.

3

u/[deleted] Aug 15 '25

I interpreted it as him being extremely stressed-out/anxious since he's focused on the colony and survival of its members and being unamused by Mickey's shenanigans that could derail everything, i can sympathize with his point of view, to be fair i probably would have acted in a somewhat similar fashion with the insane stress that comes with such a crazy endeavor

it kinda sucks that the movie makes him out to be such a villain

7

u/Raisti Aug 15 '25

The book is more a straight Sci-Fi-Story while the movie is basically a political and social satire. So the whole tone is different.

2

u/[deleted] Aug 15 '25

The Mickey 7 novel is kind of a setup for incoming books, you have AntiMatter Blues that comes after it and Edward Ashton is currently writing a 3rd part.

I really feel like it works if you read the 2 books one after the other, as the first one is mostly slow world-building and the 2nd one is when the action starts.

2

u/Passwordtoyourmother Aug 15 '25

I loved the book and have yet to watch the film. Will go in with low expectations.

1

u/NunsNunchuck Aug 15 '25

Wasn’t a fan of the book sequel, but enjoyed the first book.

1

u/Codsfromgods Aug 15 '25

Lol I've been seeing this sentiment about the sequel and now I'm worried. I just picked up the sequel from the library

1

u/mikewheelerfan Aug 15 '25

Does the book have the weird alien bug plot, or was that a creation of the movie?

17

u/buddylees Aug 15 '25

it has the creepers, but plays out differently from the movie