‘Mickey 17’ Review: A Dopey Robert Pattinson Is Dying to Make You Laugh in ‘Parasite’ Director’s Disappointing Follow-up

variety.com:

Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic While two Mickeys may be better than one, by the time you get to seven or eight (the idea of Edward Ashton’s sci-fi novel “Mickey7”), or a number as unwieldy as 18 (the inflated figure in Bong Joon Ho’s big-screen adaptation), the prospect of an endless supply of gawping Robert Pattinson clones really starts to wear on us.

The “Snowpiercer” director is back in familiar territory with “Mickey 17,” a bonkers sci-fi satire set in a grim future where Earth is no longer habitable, other planets must be colonized and the success of a four-year mission to the ice planet Niflheim depends on disposable human copies called Expendables.

Pattinson has traversed deep space before, doing so in Claire Denis’ relatively elegant arthouse feature “High Life.” Here, the star dumbs it down to suit Bong’s big-budget grunge-topian vision, playing a sucker so desperate to escape a ruthless loan shark on Earth that he books passage on a missionary vessel to another planet, accidentally enrolling in the Expendables program without reading the fine print.

Doing so literally means signing his life away, as Mickey 1 (the OG version of his character) agrees to have his body scanned and his memories archived, so he can be replicated — and recycled — ad infinitum, every time an unlucky copy hits a snag.