Mickey 17 Feels Strangely Similar To This Secret Level Episode

There’s a moment in the opening minutes of Warner Bros.’ Mickey 17 in which the new employee processing agent asks Mickey (Robert Pattinson) if he’s read all the paperwork. He hasn’t, and he shows no interest in reading it. The agent asserts that no one takes the job he’s about to take. He takes it anyway. This initial exchange between Mickey and his prospective employer absolves the audience of a great amount of sympathy for the horrors that Mickey will soon face, because the audience watched him agree to the position. Whatever goes wrong, it’s tough, but he signed up for it. Such a premise sets the stage for some sci-fi hijinks in the Warner Bros. film, but while the hijinks definitely occur, they don’t feel as romping or comedic as the setup, or even the trailers, suggested.

There is an episode of Amazon Prime Video’s 2024 Secret Level anthology series that starts in a similar fashion, even down to the words exchanged between a would-be disposable employee and his processing agent. Except, in Secret Level Season 1, Episode 9, “The Company We Keep,” shenanigans take a front-seated position on the ensuing ride, as opposed to Director Bong Joon Ho’s more forward social commentary in Mickey 17. Both have fun portraying the lengths to which a desperate person will go to secure their future, but Secret Level portrays a future setting that’s a bit more fun to watch.

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Mickey 17 Vs. The Company We Keep

In Mickey 17, Mickey Barnes amasses a sizable debt on the “old Earth” thanks to a bunk business deal with his toxic ‘friend’ Timo, played by a fast-talking Steven Yeun. In an effort to escape a chain-saw-happy loan shark on a dying Earth planet, Mickey becomes an ‘expendable,’ lending his body to corporate and government hazardous product testing on a distant planet and finding love in the process.

In Secret Level’s “The Company We Keep,” Amos works a menial job at a garbage dump on a dying Earth, and agrees to become an experimental subject for industry magnate Auntie Cleo on a distant planet. Amos looks to be reunited with his love, but first, he must pay off a debt to his would-be employer after tearing down their help-wanted ad.

“The Company We Keep” is based on Obsidian’s RPG video game, The Outer Worlds. The game is an on-the-nose send-up of capitalism, seeing the player waking up on a colony ship and navigating a corporate web of corruption across the solar system. The company the player worked for prior to falling asleep decades ago has successfully colonized the system with its omnipresent slogan:

This offhanded “screw you” to consumers is the backbone of the stories in both Mickey 17 and “The Company We Keep.” Both protagonists are at the mercy of the companies they work for, as those companies show complete disregard for their quality of life. Both stories see their subjects suffering a montage of experiments in which they are mangled, tortured, and dismissed by their superiors as little more than test dummies.

The one big difference between the two films is their disposable human plot device. Mickey is a clone, hence Mickey number 17, while Amos is just a human, who, instead of losing lives, loses limbs and appendages. Meanwhile, the manner in which they are tortured, and the theme of capitalism as an utter exploitation of have-nots, are nearly parallel between the two. With this, which offers the superior viewing experience?

Better Vacation: Nilfheim or Numa?

Mickey 17, based on Edward Ashton’s 2022 book Mickey7, has some bits of dialogue that closely mirror Secret Level‘s “The Company We Keep.” When Amos visits the Auntie Cleo representative to inquire about an open experiment subject position, she remarks that “nobody with a lick of sense” applies for that job. This echoes Mickey’s interaction with the secretary of his corporate overlord. She also implies he’d be a fool to take the job and reconfirms that he’s read through the job description. The thing about Mickey, though, is that he hadn’t, remarking in the film: “I should have read through it.” Still, both protagonists are left at the mercy of their inhumane employers: Mickey on the starkly cold planet Nilfheim, and Amos on the colorful, lush planet Numa.

Unfortunately, Mickey 17 flopped in its opening weekend, managing only $19 million domestically at the box office. While Mickey 17‘s two-hour runtime delivers some thrills and comedic bits, a lot of the comedy is spoiled in its trailer. The rest of the film is much more allegorical. Its comic relief leans on a politically-charged performance by Mark Ruffalo as colony chief Kenneth Marshall, whose swings at comedy hit sporadically depending on viewers’ appetite for zany depictions of current political leaders.

“The Company We Keep,” on the other hand, is a fun romp throughout, providing chuckles, gags, and gasps throughout its 18-minute length, including a heartbreaking, if not predictable, plot twist. Mickey 17 has its own big twist up its sleeve, but takes a momentum-slowing turn once it hits, while “The Company We Keep” remains fast-paced and engaging.

The Company We Keep Is Good Company

Mickey 17 is ambitious in its messaging, but not in the execution of its premise. It’s still a worthy watch, though. Mickey’s seventeen deaths merely felt like a hurdle for Bong Joon Ho to jump, rather than a vehicle for excitement. In the end, Secret Level‘s version of the test subject sci-fi story is more enjoyable, if only for its better pacing and commitment to thrills. This promise made by Warner Bros.’ Mickey 17 trailer was not well-kept by the actual film.

Mickey 17

Release Date

February 28, 2025

Runtime

137 minutes

Director

Bong Joon Ho

Writers

Bong Joon Ho

Producers

Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Marianne Jenkins, Dooho Choi, Jesse Ehrman

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  Mark Ruffalo

  Kenneth Marshall