Mickey 17 (3 Stars)

Normally I try to avoid knowing too much about a film before going to see it in the cinema. I never watch trailers at home before going to the cinema. I often see trailers in the cinema for upcoming films, but in most cases they don't give away too much information. This was an exception. The trailer gives away so much of the plot that while watching the film today I breathed a sigh of relief every time something happened that wasn't in the trailer.

A spaceship is leaving Earth to colonise a new planet called Niflheim. Mickey Barnes is desperate to leave Earth, because he's being hunted by a loan shark. There are hundreds of applicants for positions on the space ship, so Mickey applies to become an Expendable. He doesn't know what it is, but he's been tipped off that it's a job nobody wants.

On the ship he finds out that an Expendable is someone doing dangerous work who's expected to die. And he does die. But there's a cloning technique to bring him back to life for his next job. He dies over and over again. When his 17th iteration goes missing it's assumed that he's dead, but he shows up again to meet Mickey 18.

Multiples aren't allowed. This is an idea that's been copied from the film "Dual". The difference is that in "Dual" only one of the multiples has to die, whereas in "Mickey 17" both multiples have to die.

The film's greatest strength is the acting by Robert Pattinson. He's fast becoming one of my favourite actors. He's come a long way since being a dopey vampire in "Twilight". The film's greatest weakness is the annoying stupidity of the character played by Mark Ruffalo. He's supposed to be funny, but he just made me grown. There are other things I don't like which I can't discuss because they're spoilers, things not shown in the trailer. The film has a lot of promise, but the overall impression is disappointing.