Most critics like it, and the praise lands in the same place: Robert Pattinson. Nearly every review, including the hostile ones, singles out his dual performance as the two Mickeys, and several call it his best work. Naomi Ackie’s turn is the next most mentioned, with The Guardian picking out her speech to power as the scene the film builds to. The humour and the satire of capitalism and cloned labour are widely enjoyed, though a recurring reservation is that the ideas are ones Bong has handled before, and handled more tidily. Messy, shaggy, sloppy and uneven recur as adjectives even in warm reviews. The spread is wide. Variety finds it shrill and preachy, the Financial Times says it never locates a plot, The Ringer calls it Bong’s first real stumble, and Film Comment simply finds it boring. Several of the enthusiasts concede it is not Parasite; the dissenters treat that as the whole verdict.
T
Total Film
15 February 2025 · David Opie
90*
The critic calls it Bong Joon-ho's best English-language film and arguably Robert Pattinson's best performance, praising its humor, charming world-building, and timely satirical concerns alongside strong genre elements.
Read the full review →E
Empire
15 February 2025 · Helen O’Hara
80*
The critic finds it a charming, goofy yet thoughtful sci-fi satire that subverts expectations with its hero's hapless survival and explores humanity with optimism. Praises the blend of humor, romance, and social commentary.
Read the full review →L
Little White Lies
24 February 2025 · 4/4/4 · Hannah Strong
80
The critic finds the film gross and heartwarming in equal measure, commending Pattinson’s committed dual performance and Ackie’s delightful turn while noting it is not as slick as Parasite but still fun and endearing.
Read the full review →R
Radio Times
16 February 2025 · ★★★★
80
The critic describes it as a bonkers sci-fi tale with black humour and a double dose of Pattinson, noting it is funnier and more twisted than expected while dealing uniquely with cloning ethics.
Read the full review →G
The Guardian
9 March 2025 · Wendy Ide
80*
The critic finds the film a lot of fun as a timely sci-fi satire, though not quite on the level of Parasite. She singles out the galvanising scene in which Naomi Ackie delivers a profanity-laden truth-to-power speech.
Read the full review →T
Time Out
15 February 2025 · ★★★★ · Lou Thomas
80
The critic calls it a spectacular if uneven sci-fi romp with two stellar Pattinson performances, praising the visual strikingness and tremendous fun despite some mid-film sag and less political bite than prior works.
Read the full review →V
Vulture
15 February 2025 · festival review
80*
The critic highlights the bitterly funny take on America and capitalism through the immortal drudge premise, praising the high point of the explanation sequence and hopeful note, while noting some familiar elements.
Read the full review →A
The AV Club
5 March 2025 · B · Jacob Oller
77
The critic praises the energetic, messy, hilarious sci-fi that combines Bong's themes into a shaggy but entertaining critique of labor exploitation and authoritarianism, with strong performances especially from Pattinson.
Read the full review →T
The Telegraph
6 March 2025
75*
The review calls it an enjoyably mad sci-fi confection and a boisterous throwback blockbuster satire. It praises Robert Pattinson as a hangdog delight in the central role.
Read the full review →L
Los Angeles Times
7 March 2025 · Amy Nicholson
65*
The critic describes it as a sloppy but enjoyable sci-fi comedy that recycles the director's past ideas on inequality and environmentalism. Pattinson's dual cartoonish and heroic physical transformations are highlighted as a standout.
Read the full review →H
The Hollywood Reporter
15 February 2025 · festival review · David Rooney
50*
The critic finds the film entertaining due to Pattinson but scattershot with heavy-handed satire and lacking thematic coherence, feeling trifling compared to Bong's sharper previous work.
Read the full review →F
Financial Times
6 March 2025 · Danny Leigh
40*
The review finds the anarchic space adventure ultimately disappointing despite its ambitions. It singles out the repetitive use of Pattinson as a punchline and the failure to locate a strong plot.
Read the full review →V
Variety
15 February 2025 · festival review · Peter Debruge
40*
The critic calls it a disappointing follow-up that recycles familiar satire but turns sloppy, shrill, and preachy. Pattinson's game performance as the dopey Expendable is praised amid the film's oddity and production design.
Read the full review →F
Film Comment
25 March 2025 · Caitlín Doherty
30*
The critic finds the film boring and not fun, with clunky dialogue and underused elements; praises some touches of commentary but overall it's a disappointment that feels like the present.
Read the full review →S
Screen Daily
15 February 2025
The critic views it as a proudly idiosyncratic sci-fi dark comedy that wobbles in tone but is held together by rage at humanity’s cruelty and compassion for the protagonist, with Pattinson providing strong resonance.
Read the full review →S
Sight and Sound
20 February 2025
The critic praises Bong Joon Ho’s playful sci-fi satire for its oddity and overt political commentary targeting white nationalism and colonialism. Pattinson’s dual performance and the film’s blend of humour with human drama amid grand effects are highlighted positively.
Read the full review →N
The New York Times
6 March 2025 · Critic's Pick · Manohla Dargis
The critic finds the film a very funny yet utterly serious dystopian romp about class and power. Pattinson's soulful, hapless performance and silent-clown physicality are singled out as crucial to its tonal expansiveness.
Read the full review →T
The Times
16 February 2025 · ★★★★☆ · Kevin Maher
The critic describes a boisterous sci-fi comedy packed with political broadsides, corporate spoofs and space-movie pastiches. He praises the spectacular look and the way it keeps posing interesting questions.
Read the full review →D
Deadline
15 February 2025 · festival review · Pete Hammond
90*
The critic calls the film a hilarious, humane and thought-provoking satire with Robert Pattinson delivering a revelation as the two Mickeys. It is singled out for its witty take on dehumanization, class divides and finding self-worth amid unfeeling leaders.
Read the full review →/
/Film
15 February 2025 · 9/10 · BJ Colangelo
90
The critic hails it as Bong Joon-ho's best English-language film yet and an early Oscar contender, a deeply heartfelt and uncomfortably funny musing on capitalism, colonization, and corruption with superlative performances.
Read the full review →C
Collider
5 March 2025 · 8/10 · Ross Bonaime
80
Bong Joon Ho delivers his best English-language film to date, a weird and wonderful sci-fi comedy with a hilarious Robert Pattinson in dual roles as the clones. The critic singles out Pattinson's comedic performance and the film's tighter narrative focus compared to Bong's prior English efforts.
Read the full review →F
Film Stories
7 March 2025 · Ryan Lambie
80*
The critic calls it a blackly comic sci-fi satire that entertains as a midnight-black, broad satire with a surprisingly British tone and a rare sense of hope amid its critique of capitalism and power.
Read the full review →H
HeyUGuys
7 March 2025 · ★★★★ · Linda Marric
80
The critic praises it as a worthy and wildly inventive follow-up that is weird, messy, thoughtful, and kind of hopeful, with strong performances and sharp thematic depth on identity and commodified lives.
Read the full review →N
NME
5 March 2025 · ★★★★ · Nick Levine
80
The critic calls it a kooky, heartfelt sci-fi satire with infectious warmth and gleeful satire; notes some incoherence but finds it well worth seeking out, highlighting Pattinson and the allegory for fascism.
Read the full review →P
Polygon
5 March 2025 · Toussaint Egan
80*
Bong Joon Ho's sci-fi black comedy is a sexy, slapstick success that explores identity, labor, and self-worth through the story of two clones learning to live with themselves. The critic singles out Robert Pattinson's captivating dual performance and the tender, sexy dynamic with Naomi Ackie's character.
Read the full review →W
The Wrap
15 February 2025 · festival review
80*
The review hails Robert Pattinson's elastic, comedy-gold performance as multiple Mickeys in Bong Joon-ho's madcap sci-fi satire. It praises the film's abundant ideas and buffoonish antics while noting it plays louder and looser than the director's more streamlined prior works.
Read the full review →R
The Ringer
6 March 2025 · Adam Nayman
40*
The film falls short of Bong Joon Ho's high standards for the first time, with erratic storytelling and characterizations that lack the usual control and momentum. The critic singles out Robert Pattinson's dual performance as the most successful element.
Read the full review →D
Den of Geek
4 March 2025 · 4 out of 5 · David Crow
The critic loves the bold, eccentric filmmaking and Pattinson's performance; praises the gallows humor, satire on capitalism, and ambitious spectacle despite some narrative clutter.
Read the full review →Ordered by the weight we give each publication, then by score. Scores are normalised to 100; * means inferred from an unrated review. Summaries are ours, not quotations; follow the links for the reviews themselves. How we rate