Mickey 17 (in theaters)

Don’t go to “Mickey 17” expecting “Parasite.”

Director Bong Joon Ho won multiple Oscars for the precise, twisty 2019 thriller, but Bong has never felt restricted by tone or genre. “Mickey 17” is as dark as its predecessor, but it’s also practically a slapstick comedy. Current world events give it a definite horror element and somewhere in the middle of all this there’s even a surprisingly sweet romance. There are times when it almost feels like it’s too much, like Bong couldn’t decide what kind of movie he wanted to make, but it still ends up being entertaining.

In the movie, sudden financial difficulties force Mickey (Robert Pattinson) to sign up for a terrible space job where he dies a lot. When that happens, his body is copied and his memories get re-downloaded into the new version of him. This works fine (for everyone but Mickey) until 17 comes back from a dangerous mission to find they’ve already printed 18. Since that could mean death for both of them if they get caught, they have to come up with a plan.

Despite the craziness, the performances help keep everything anchored. Robert Pattinson’s dual performances are incredibly impressive, making 17 and 18 dramatically distinct characters even when they’re both onscreen. They’re both freaks, just like all of Pattinson’s characters, but very different types. Naomi Ackie is also great as Mickey’s girlfriend, a woman who is genuinely sweet but in some ways just as much of a freak as Mickey.

When things get bad, sometimes letting our freak flag fly is all we have.

Grade: Three stars

Last Breath (in theaters)

You can tell that “Last Breath” director Alex Parkinson mostly does documentaries.

Parkinson, who also directed the documentary version of this story, knows how to time events to hold your interest. He’s good at maintaining tension, an essential skill for documentaries, but he’s not so great at building characters. The dive crew members are all the flattest archetypes, action figure characters with only one or two word descriptions. The cast does what they can to give their characters depth, some more successfully than others, but the script doesn’t give any of them much room. When it does try to add character backstory, it does such a ham-fisted job of it you almost wish it would go back to focusing on the facts.

The movie follows a group of professional deep-sea divers doing a dangerous job on an oil rig. When one of the divers gets stuck down in the depths, his limited oxygen starts a deadly clock. Do the other divers stay safe and leave him to die, or risk their own lives trying to save him?

The fact that there’s already a documentary about the incident offers a strong clue to the answer, but people don’t watch movies like this for the surprise. Parkinson ably handles the underwater action, and if that’s not enough to hold you Woody Harrelson fills in the emotional element. His determination is far more satisfying than the gratuitous girlfriend flashbacks and if you feel any tug on your heartstrings it will be because of him.

If you don’t need that, though, it might be easier to just track down the documentary.

Grade: Two stars

Jenniffer Wardell is an award-winning movie critic and member of the Utah Film Critics Association. Find her on Twitter at @wardellwriter or drop her a line at [email protected].