Will's Watches Vol. 95: Mickey 17
Mickey 17 (2025), Severance S2 Ep. 9, White Lotus S3 Ep. 4, Invincible S3, Paradise Season 1, and more
We’re back with another edition of Will’s Watches, where I don’t sell wrist watches, but I do sell movie and TV reviews, for FREE! Please subscribe below if you aren’t already and share with your friends and I’ll give you a crisp high-five! Also feel free to give my Instagram a follow HERE.
On to one of our first big highly anticipated movies of the year!
Spoiler Free Section:
Mickey 17 (2025):
We got Bong Joon Ho back in the directors chair for the first time since 2019 with Best Picture winner Parasite. Have been looking forward to this one for a while mostly because of him, but also because of my guy Robert Pattinson (AKA Robat Battinbat).
After seeing it, I’ve come to this conclusion: it is a good movie, but I couldn’t help but feel a little bit disappointed. The story follows Mickey Barnes, a goofy guy with a goofy voice who signs up to be an “Expendable” on a mission to colonize a far away ice planet. As an Expendable, Mickey’s job is to be the test dummy for just about everything, as they upload his brain into a fancy machine that can reprint his body/memories every time he dies. So by the time we start the film, we’re on the seventeenth version of Mickey.
My biggest issue was that I left feeling like there was so much more they could have done with the cloning premise that they just didn’t. There is a huge missed opportunity for a montage of creative ridiculous deaths at the beginning (I immediately thought of the death montage from the clinically underrated Edge of Tomorrow). But beyond that, I think they could have had more fun with not only the idea of someone who’s job it is to die, but the existence of a human printing machine.
There was some good comedy in there but it’s stuck within a lot of meandering around in the story to get to the end. Everything with Mark Ruffalo as the over the top politician with veneers was rough, and Toni Collette’s character with her weird sauce obsession did not do it for me one bit.
The first act is the fun intro, love Robert Pattinson putting on a weird voice and playing a blubbering fool who’s just trying to get through the day. I was locked in. But then you get to this big jumble in the middle that just felt like a lot going on without much payoff. The third act brought me all the way back in and that’s because of the stars of this show: the roly-poly/elephant combo freaks. If you’ve read my reviews before, you know I love little freaks. We got a new group of freaks on the block and they are all around studs, bringing another dimension to the narrative and setting up the final acts that tie together the narrative threads made throughout the movie.
There was a lottttttt of weird stuff in here, some of which I enjoyed (random pigeon mascot man) and some of which I didn’t (jello steak).
Robert Pattinson is great and does a phenomenal job playing different versions of the same character. I’ll watch anything he is in and anything that my guy Bong makes. We need more fun original films like this and I’m happy to support. But again, felt like this one fell a little bit short of my expectations.
TL;DR: Mickey 17 is as weird and fun as advertised, but an overstuffed middle act and some fun left on the table with the premise drags this down lower than it could be. Still a good time and worth seeing!
Ranking: 3.5 stars (74 raw score)
Trivickey 17:
While it's well known that Pattinson plays multiple versions of Mickey due to the cloning process, what many don't realise is that director Bong Joon-ho insisted on filming certain key scenes without Pattinson knowing which version of Mickey he was playing until just before shooting. This method was meant to capture the confusion and existential dread of a clone struggling with his own identity, leading to some of the film's most unsettling and raw performances.
Extra Bites:
See below for the other content I’ve been watching lately. As always, all my movie reviews go up first on my Letterboxd account. To keep it simple, the four categories here are: Absolute Cinema (incredible content), Would Watch Again (good stuff, recommend), Probably Wouldn’t Watch Again (it’s okay at best but would not recommend), Nico Harrison (it’s the worst thing to every happen to my life)
Severance Season 2 Ep. 9 (2025)
A bounce back after a disappointing episode last week. We’re headed full steam into the finale and I’m already missing this show. Eustice is a crazy first name for Miss Haung. I also really disliked how Helena ate those eggs. No wonder she’s so weird, no way they have an ounce of seasoning in that weird mansion. I’ll tell you who actually has that sauce tho, and that is Seth Milchik. He is armed with a verbal gat at all times ready to be unholstered at any moment. Finale is next week, let’s see if they can stick the landing for what has been an amazing second season.
Verdict: Would Watch Again
The White Lotus Season 3 Ep. 4 (2025)
After a strong episode three, feel like this one was a slight step back. We’re halfway through and I’m still really enjoying the season, but it’s time to start making some real moves. I also hate to say it, but I’m starting to really enjoy Saxon. And the water gun kids were doing God’s work.
Verdict: Would Watch Again
Invincible Season 3 (2025)
Now that the season has wrapped up, happy to report that Invincible Season 3 is a banger. Several episodes that I would put up there with some of the best of the series after an up and down Season 2. If you’re a fan of The Boys or superhero stuff in general, definitely give this show a watch. After some lackluster animation at the beginning, the animation team LOCKED IN for this finale. Voice cast was even more insane this season, and the promise of a season a year going forward has me ready to roll. Really looking forward to Season 4.
Verdict: Absolute Cinema
Paradise Season 1 (2025)
Shoutout Doak for the rec here, this show is on Hulu and has some of the best real-time apocalypse storytelling that I’ve seen. It’s actually chilling. The season drags a little towards the middle, but the last three to four episodes are great. Definitely recommend giving it a binge as it has been renewed for Season 2.
Verdict: Would Watch Again
Coming Soon:
Some promising and not-so-promising flicks out there right now, going to try to get another one this week.
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SPOILER SECTION
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Mickey 17 (2025):
So the one thing I didn’t mention in non-spoilers was that Mickey 17 survives what he thought was going to be another death toward the beginning, but not before Mickey 18 can be printed. So we have dueling Robert Pattinsons working together for a good amount of the film, which is a lot of fun
Again, I think there was such a missed opportunity for a bunch of fun deaths for Mickey. There were a couple in there (like the radiation burning one where his hand gets chopped off) but most of the deaths were him sitting in a tank testing a toxic gas or just scenes of them throwing his body in the incinerator
I also think there could have been more with the cloning in general, I’m thinking some reveals that other characters are clones, cloning other creatures, I don’t know, just some more cloning fun you know?
I was originally pretty confused by the whole “he killed his mom by pressing a button in the car” situation, but the reveal that he didn’t actually do anything followed by 18 pressing the button to kill Mark Ruffalo/17 pressing the button to destroy the printing machine at the end was a nice touch
And man the Creepers were just the best. I actually smiled when they started rolling around to move faster, loved their bluff of being able to explode brains, and was going to start some problems if Zoco didn’t make it out alive
Again, I wanted no part of Ylfa and her weird sauce obsession. I was talking to Carter the other day and neither of us have been able to find any explanation for that
Honestly can’t really decide if I liked or hated the weird dream sequence at the end