Director Bong Joon-ho’s science fiction epic, Mickey 17, has captivated audiences with its visually stunning portrayal of a colonized ice world and its thought-provoking exploration of identity and existence. Starring Robert Pattinson as an “expendable,” an employee whose consciousness is transferred to a new clone body upon each death, the film delves into the complexities of individuality when multiple versions of one person can exist. Based on Edward Ashton’s novel Mickey7, Mickey 17 blends dark humor, thrilling sci-fi concepts, and sharp social commentary on corporate exploitation and the meaning of humanity, all hallmarks of Bong Joon-ho’s celebrated filmmaking style. Furthermore, the film challenges viewers to consider what defines a person when memories can be replicated and bodies are disposable.
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If the philosophical questions, dystopian societies, and mind-bending concepts of identity presented in Mickey 17 left you wanting more, there’s a rich vein of science fiction cinema that explores similar territory. The following films, much like Bong Joon-ho’s Mickey 17, use imaginative premises to dissect what it means to be human, often placing their characters in extraordinary circumstances that push the boundaries of selfhood, memory, and societal critique.
1) Edge of Tomorrow
Edge of Tomorrow is a thrilling sci-fi action film that plunges Major William Cage (Tom Cruise), a public relations officer with no combat experience, into a brutal war against an advanced alien race known as Mimics. After a fateful encounter on the battlefield, Cage finds himself caught in a time loop, reliving the same disastrous day every time he dies. Once he realizes there’s no escaping his dire condition, Cage teams up with legendary Special Forces warrior Rita Vrataski (Emily Blunt) to use the repeating cycle to learn the enemy’s weaknesses and find a way to win the war, with each death bringing him closer to victory.
In Edge of Tomorrow, director Doug Liman expertly balances intricate WWI-esque battle sequences with a surprisingly witty script and compelling character development for both Cage and Vrataski. In addition, Cruise delivers a standout performance, convincingly portraying Cage’s transformation from a reluctant coward to a seasoned warrior, a journey made all the more engaging by the film’s clever use of its time-loop mechanic. This narrative device allows for both dark humor and a genuine exploration of perseverance, echoing the way Mickey 17 examines how repeated existence shapes an individual against formidable odds.
2) They Cloned Tyrone
Juel Taylor’s They Cloned Tyrone is a sharp, genre-bending sci-fi mystery infused with Blaxploitation cool and incisive social commentary. The film follows an unlikely trio who uncover a sinister government-backed conspiracy: Fontaine (John Boyega), a neighborhood drug dealer; Slick Charles (Jamie Foxx), a flamboyant pimp; and Yo-Yo (Teyonah Parris), an ambitious sex worker. The plot involves the cloning of Black people and insidious experiments happening right beneath their community, forcing them to confront a horrifying truth.
They Cloned Tyrone is distinguished by its fresh directorial vision, stellar performances from its lead cast, and its skillful blending of laugh-out-loud humor with genuinely unsettling revelations. Boyega, Foxx, and Parris exhibit remarkable chemistry, anchoring the narrative’s more outlandish elements with grounded, compelling portrayals. The movie’s bold approach to tackling themes of systemic racism and exploitation through a sci-fi lens, particularly its examination of identity when confronted with literal duplicates, offers a thought-provoking parallel to Mickey 17‘s core concerns.
Stream They Cloned Tyrone on Netflix.
3) Cloud Atlas
The ambitious film Cloud Atlas, co-directed by the Wachowskis and Tom Tykwer, presents a tapestry of six interconnected narratives that span centuries, from the 19th-century South Pacific to a distant, post-apocalyptic future. Characters, often played by the same actors in different guises across various storylines, experience echoes of past lives as their individual actions ripple through time, impacting the fates of others in profound and often unexpected ways. As a result, the film tackles grand themes of interconnectedness, oppression, freedom, love, and the cyclical nature of human experience.
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Cloud Atlas is a cinematic marvel in its scope and execution, weaving intricate plotlines and philosophical depth into a visually stunning package. Its exploration of how identity and human connection persist across different lifetimes and societal structures offers a unique viewing experience. For those who appreciated Mickey 17‘s questioning of selfhood across multiple iterations, Cloud Atlas’ grandiose take on recurring souls fighting for meaning provides an intellectually stimulating journey.
Stream Cloud Atlas on Paramount+.
4) Source Code
Directed by Duncan Jones, Source Code stars Jake Gyllenhaal as Captain Colter Stevens, a U.S. Army helicopter pilot who finds himself part of a top-secret experimental program. The movie’s core technology allows him to be inserted into the consciousness of another man during the last eight minutes of his life aboard a commuter train that is destined to be bombed. Colter’s mission is to relive these eight minutes repeatedly to identify the bomber and prevent a future attack, all while piecing together the truth about his own perplexing situation and the nature of the Source Code program itself.
Source Code is a masterwork of efficient storytelling, building suspense and emotional investment within its confined, repetitive structure, largely thanks to a compelling performance from Gyllenhaal. The film engages with complex ideas about consciousness, memory, and the potential for agency within seemingly predetermined scenarios. Its focus on a protagonist grappling with a fragmented existence and an urgent mission will strike a chord with viewers who connected with Mickey’s own disorienting, high-stakes reality.
tream Source Code on Peacock.
5) 12 Monkeys
Terry Gilliam’s dystopian masterpiece 12 Monkeys follows James Cole (Bruce Willis), a prisoner from a bleak future where humanity has been decimated by a deadly virus and forced underground. Cole is sent back in time on a perilous mission to gather information about the plague’s origin, believed to be linked to an enigmatic group known as the Army of the Twelve Monkeys. As he navigates the past, his sanity is constantly questioned, and his perceptions of reality, memory, and fate become increasingly blurred.
Gilliam’s distinctive visual artistry and the film’s non-linear narrative contribute to a profoundly unsettling cinematic journey, anchored by powerful performances from Willis and Brad Pitt. Furthermore, 12 Monkeys’ exploration of mental fragility, the unreliability of memory, and the desperate search for truth within an oppressive, decaying world offers a thematically rich experience that resonates with the existential dread and reality-bending elements present in Mickey 17.
6) Infinity Pool
Brandon Cronenberg’s Infinity Pool is a dark and provocative sci-fi horror set at an isolated, all-inclusive island resort. There, James Foster (Alexander Skarsgård), a novelist seeking inspiration, and his wife Em (Cleopatra Coleman) encounter a mysterious and seductive couple who introduce them to the resort’s hedonistic subculture and a horrifying local custom: for a steep price, wealthy tourists who commit capital crimes can have a perfect clone created to be executed in their stead. This grotesque loophole leads James down a path of moral decay and identity dissolution.
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Infinity Pool is a visceral and unsettling exploration of privilege, amorality, and the extremes of human behavior when consequences are seemingly removed, a hallmark of Cronenberg’s boundary-pushing style. Its unflinching depiction of psychological and physical horror, coupled with its thematic focus on the erosion of self through cloned proxies, provides a chilling and thought-provoking experience that will appeal to viewers intrigued by Mickey 17‘s darker implications of disposable identities.
Stream Infinity Pool on Hulu.
7) Elysium
Neill Blomkamp’s Elysium portrays a starkly divided future. In the movie, Earth is an overpopulated, environmentally devastated ruin. At the same time, the wealthiest echelon of humanity lives in opulence on Elysium, a technologically advanced space station where any disease can be instantly cured. The story unfolds as Max Da Costa (Matt Damon), a factory worker on Earth, suffers a lethal dose of radiation and, with only days to live, must undertake a desperate mission to reach Elysium, challenging the systemic injustice that condemns billions.
Elysium delivers a potent social critique through its visceral action sequences and striking visual realization of a stratified society, effectively highlighting themes of healthcare disparity and class warfare. This narrative of a desperate individual fighting against an oppressive system where lives are deemed expendable offers an action-driven story that echoes Mickey 17‘s concerns with corporate indifference and the struggle for human dignity.
Which sci-fi movies with mind-bending themes would you recommend to fans of Mickey 17?
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