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movie review - Mickey 17

This is a sci-fi flick about a fellow who signs up for a settlement trip that will found a new human colony on a distant star. He does so out of desperation -- he owes a small fortune to a loan shark over a failed venture and is running for his life. Unlike his partner, who has the sense to pick up a qualification for the journey, our hero naively sets himself up as an "expendable". He volunteers for a life as someone who will be assigned to dangerous jobs that no one else will do. By the time the events of the movie unfold, sixteen Mickeys have already met their terrible ends, five of them in being exposed to a deadly virus, and at least three in testing a new nerve agent.

We enjoyed it. It's very well cast throughout (Toni Collette's villainous first lady is somehow even more disgusting than her husband), the story is original and compelling, and it nails a certain tone early on and stays there. Various story lines were brought to satisfactory conclusions, with several minor characters clearly having plausible and constructive "story arcs". I liked the aliens, I liked the Brazil-like vibe to the scientists, and I liked the way our naïve main character and his possessive girlfriend saved the day.

I'll also note that this is at times a fast-paced piece, to the extent that my son and occasionally had to ask each other what had happened. E.g. There was some debate about the nerve agent testing.

Recommended.