the dark sci-fi comedy “Mickey 17”

Robert Pattinson has played so many roles that it inspired Korean director Bong Joon Ho to cast him as multiple versions of the same dude ― 18 of them, in fact ― in a followup to the filmmaker's Oscar-winning “Parasite."

In the dark sci-fi comedy “Mickey 17” (in theaters Friday), Pattinson plays Mickey Barnes, a guy who owes money to the wrong people and tries to leave Earth ASAP. He signs up to be an “expendable” on a colonizing expedition to an ice planet, but never reads the fine print: Mickey becomes a lowly worker who's regularly put in ultra-hazardous situations, and when he dies, a new Mickey is printed out with a high-tech machine and discarded organic material, with all his memories intact. Over and over and over again.

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On one mission, Mickey 17 is left for dead but is saved by the planet’s indigenous species. He’s rescued and runs into Mickey 18, which causes all sorts of political, personal and existential issues for the underdog hero.

'Mickey 17': Bong Joon Ho, Robert Pattinson tackle sci-fi satire (usatoday.com)