In Bong Joon-ho’s sci-fi satire, Mickey 17‘s spine-chilling nightmare near the film’s conclusion serves as a pivotal plot revelation. The haunting sequence explores Mickey’s deep-seated anxieties about the consequences of keeping the human printing machine operational. In a recent interview, the Oscar-winning director has also shed light on the finale’s significance.
Here’s what Mickey 17’s dream meant
Mickey, (Robert Pattinson) was the “expendable” in Bong Joon-ho’s film, Mickey 17. Throughout the film, he dies countless times and is reprinted using the human printing machine. Right before the finale, Mickey (the 17th version of him) gets the red button to destroy the very machine that caused him anguish. However, the weight of this enormous decision leads him to dream of a world where the machine remains functional.
In Mickey’s dream, he sees the fascist leader, Kenneth Marshall (Mark Ruffalo), emerging from the printer while his wife, Ylfa (Toni Collette), stands in the room. As Mickey talks to Ylfa, he suddenly recalls that the populist leader’s wife had also died. This raised the unsettling possibility that she, too, was revived using the machine. The chilling scene reaches its climax when Mickey notices blood on his hand — just before snapping back to reality.
Mickey’s haunting dream unveils his deep-seated fear of human printing technology being misused while also echoing his childhood trauma. Years ago, pressing the wrong red button led to his mother’s tragic death. Now, as he holds the controller to destroy the machine, he hesitates once more. This time, however, pressing the red button could save Niflheim’s future instead of causing devastation. This psychological struggle becomes the emotional centerpiece of the film’s conclusion.
Bong Joon-ho has also shed light on the film’s finale. The Okja maker gushed in a Vulture interview, “I wanted to end the film with this sense of anxiety that this nightmare can always repeat itself. Technology is very tempting. It provides a lot of convenience, and, especially for the people who are making money off of it, it’s a very tempting thing.”
In Mickey 17, the human printing machine depicted how easily the authorities with unchecked power get to exploit the “expendable” ones. So, Mickey’s final decision to destroy the machine represents hope that good faith can triumph over technology threatening humanity. The pivotal moment stands as a powerful testament to resistance against exploitation in Bong’s thought-provoking sci-fi allegory.
Originally reported by Arpita Adhya on ComingSoon.
