The film follows Mickey Barnes, played by Robert Pattinson, who joins a space crew. He is selected to become an expendable, a worker who is given life-threatening assignments for research purposes and is regenerated after dying.

The movie starts off by explaining that Mickey’s decision to become an expendable is to escape financial trouble. The audience is then subjected to nearly 30 minutes of exploring Mickey’s backstory and the events that lead Mickey to where he currently is. Most of the events discussed are never brought up again, resulting in a wasted half hour that could have been spent developing other aspects of the movie.

The audience learns early on that cloning has been banned on Earth and the morality of cloning Mickey is soon called into question. This concept is also never addressed again, with the movie switching to a focus on how colonization affects the environment. The sudden change between concepts results in the movie having an unclear message and feeling disorganized.

Kenneth Marshall, the film’s antagonist played by Mark Ruffalo, feels like he’s in the wrong movie. Marshall is a failed politician who wants to take over other planets, but Ruffalo chose to portray the character as a comedic villain. This results in scenes where Ruffalo is trying to be funny while talking about wiping out entire planets, which becomes distracting and takes away from the gravity of the sequence.

Many of the supporting characters in the movie feel underdeveloped and aren’t given enough screen time to make an impression. Anamarie Vartolomei’s character Kai is set up as an important character in the film’s second act, only to not be seen again until the final scene. Toni Collette’s character Ylfa Marshall is also underdeveloped, as the movie attempts to set her up as a secondary antagonist but never really gives her enough time to develop.

Despite its problems, the movie is not without its highlights. Robert Pattinson gives a solid performance as Mickey and his clones, giving each of them a distinct personality. His chemistry with co-star Naomi Ackie, who plays his love interest, is also strong, as their relationship feels genuine.

The production team put a lot of effort into making Nifelheim, the planet visited by the crew, feel like a real place with its own ecosystem. The planet’s inhabitants, referred to as creepers, are convincingly portrayed as an intelligent species complete with their own culture and language. The atmosphere of the planet is also great, with the harsh snowfall in the final act invoking a feeling of unease in the audience.

“Mickey 17” is not a bad movie, but rather a frustrating one. A film that could have been an instant classic in the science-fiction^[e] genre is unfortunately held back by poor pacing and underdeveloped characters.