Mickey 17

Directed by Parasite’s Bong Joon Ho and starring an initially unrecognizable Robert Patterson, the conceit for Mickey 17 is a kind of irreverence—we find out that Mickey Barnes must die, for a living.

Throughout the trailer, a dramatic undercurrent provides a foil for comedic irony; an initial dramatic swell at 0:11 leads to a comedic one-liner as an internal monologue / narrative commentary (“should read through it”). Then at 0:20, a plaintive piano and strings soundtrack contrasts with the assertion of Mickey’s supervisor that he must imagine “sucking in every single microscopic particle around”. Mickey’s utter aloofness is beyond belief, having signed up for a role with the job title “Expendable.”

Sure enough, as we witness one of Mickey’s (presumably) sixteen-odd deaths, hacking up blood, we hear the initial jangly percussion of the 1964 song “It’s My Life” by The Animals, which carries an obvious intertextual allusion. The drum and bass intro carries the next bit of expository monologue, with audiovisual synch points here and there for good effect, such as when Mickey’s hand is lopped off at 0:54.

At 1:24, a key plot point is revealed as the concept of multiple Mickeys is introduced, leading to scenes of ultra violence paired with the emergence of the key organ riff of the song. Note how at 1:46, the title card (“he’s dying”) is juxtaposed completely with the first sung lyric (“it’s my life / and I do what I want”). At 1:57 the very popular modern trailer trope of synching the beat to gunfire leads to the final montage. Next, at 2:04, the stakes are raised a little as we hear an emotional monologue paired with some reharmonization of the main riff, this time rising by step. A quick reprise of the original song recording leads us out.

As a whole, the consistent use of “It’s My Life” helps ensure the trailer stands firmly on a fantastical and comedic grounding, held in captivating contrast with the gory visuals. An easy—and, honestly, appropriate enough—comparison would be to the audiovisual counterpoint of any one of Quentin Tarantino’s films, though that isn’t to say he owns a monopoly on this kind of irreverent hyper violence. What makes it all a bit more fresh, however, is the relative lightness with which Mickey 17 promises to treat the sci-fi genre, landing more in the realm of District 9 or Edge of Tomorrow_ _than something with the insistent gravitas of, say, Interstellar.

Mickey 17 arrives in theatres March 5th, 2025.

— Curtis Perry