We’re three months into 2025, and sci-fi is already giving us the best sex scenes this year. During a time when Hollywood seems to be abstaining from sex like a timid Catholic school girl, sci-fi movies and TV shows like Mickey 17 and Severance are giving us the hottest intimate scenes in media right now.
There’s been a slow shift back towards embracing sex scenes again after a long hiatus. Anora, a movie centered around a sex worker, just won Best Picture at the Oscars. And god knows Nicole Kidman didn’t hold back in Babygirl. But a 2024 study found that since the year 2000, the amount of sex and nudity in films has decreased by almost 40 percent, so there’s still a long way to close that gap. That’s why it was thrilling to see futuristic sex scenes in Parasite Oscar winner Bong Joon Ho’s latest movie.
Mickey 17 follows a love story between a woman and a man who dies over and over again. Pretty hot, huh? Especially when that man is Robert Pattinson x 2.
*spoilers ahead, duh*
The dystopian comedy centers around Mickey Barnes (played by the beautiful Rob), who signs up to be an “Expendable” for a chance to leave Earth and escape a loan shark he owes a lot of money. As an Expendable, he literally gives his body to science. His job requires long hours as a test subject in the lab or being pushed to the brink in freezing temperatures on an alien planet (he didn’t read the paperwork that closely). Every time he dies, they just simply reprint him and upload his memories into a new body. The version of Mickey we’re introduced to at the beginning of the movie is the 17th edition (hence, “Mickey 17”).
Through his pain and sacrifice, the medical team onboard the colony’s space ship is able to create a vaccine that allows humans to move around the planet without risk. Obviously, he’s an important dude for the sake of the people onboard, yet he’s treated like garbage — partially because his bodies are made from recycled material and partially because they don’t really think of him as a person. The irony of his character hinges on his supposed immortality. It is as if his inability to truly “die” (as in gone forever) makes each of his lives infinitely disposable. The only person who doesn’t feel that way? His beloved Nasha Barridge, a sort of security agent on the ship.
Played by Naomi Ackie, Nasha is a firecracker who doesn’t take people’s shit. They meet on the first day of the four-year journey to the new planet Niflheim and immediately break the new anti-sex rule enforced by the leader of the colony, Kenneth Marshall (played by Mark Ruffalo). Marshall is an ex-politician (with mannerisms eerily similar to Trump) who has managed to amass a cult following who are willing to follow him blindly. With food rations carefully monitored, Marshall announces that sex is banned until they arrive at Niflheim because it burns too many calories. (“At least 100 if you do it right.”)
Clearly, Nasha brings out the rebel in Mickey. We’re treated to a sex scenes montage of close-up shots of kisses on shoulders and Mickey’s face between Nasha’s thighs as Marshall’s anti-sex campaign speech plays as a voiceover. The couple even start designing new sex positions together while giggling like school children. One sex position they coined, “Bring the Baby,” is used later in the movie as a way to communicate with each other. It’s clear the two of them are not leaving their humanity behind despite the millions of miles between them and Earth.
When Mickey 17 is considered dead on his latest expedition, the lab prints a new body: Mickey 18. This version of Mickey is less timid and more animalistic in his sexual desires. After Mickey 17 arrives back at base to find his clone in his bed, he realizes that he’s not just continuing on as the same person but that each print of himself is their own person with unique personality quirks and temperament. Mickey 18 proves this quickly when he immediately tries to murder 17 in an effort to eradicate “multiples” — a crime punished by complete nonexistence.
When Mickey 17 goes to Nasha to explain the situation he’s found himself in, she’s giddy at the prospect of having two of her boyfriend and has them strip down to compare their bodies side by side. “This is so exciting!” she says with evident glee, probably already imagining what sex positions this opens up for them. It’s refreshing to see Nasha be so curious and openly sexual — similar to Zendaya’s character Tashi in Challengers. But their similarity doesn’t stop there.
Pattinson does a convincing job of portraying two different versions of himself throughout the movie, especially when Nasha tries to initiate a threesome. While she’s kissing 17 and giving 18 a handjob, the latter sticks his finger in his mouth and then reaches over to play with 17’s hair. This crosses the line for 17, who icks out at the prospect of sleeping with himself. It’s unclear if they would’ve convinced him to continue if they hadn’t been interrupted by Kai, another agent on the ship who has had her eye on Mickey since day one. She offers to keep the multiples a secret if Nasha is willing to share. “I’ll take 17 and you take 18.” Nasha is horrified at the prospect of splitting her baby in half (metaphorically speaking). “They’re both Mickey!” she screams. While 18 is angry and violent to 17’s passive and generally weaker disposition, Nasha loves them equally — almost as if they are the same person. Nasha’s love and sexual desires for Mickey transcend every iteration.
While Rob deserves to be nominated for best leading and supporting actor for this role, Naomi’s high emotion throughout the film grounded the sci-fi and gave it empathy. When she was angry, she yelled. When she was horny, she had sex. It felt cathartic to watch a woman on-screen show her feelings so freely — from her rage at unjust leaders to her eagerness in the bedroom.
If it wasn’t obvious already, Mickey 17 is another example of why sex scenes are not frivolous additions but play an important part in a movie’s experience. Hopefully, the rest of 2025 will continue to bring us weird, hot sex scenes like god intended.
