PHOTO COURTESY WARNER BROS. PICTURES

The tones within Bong Joon Ho’s remarkable films are varied. The Oscar-winning director has proven equally adept at post-apocalyptic action (“Snowpiercer”), heightened fantasy (“Okja”), scathing suspense (“Parasite”) and, with “Mickey 17,” pitch-black comedy.

Like a masterful painter exploring the same subject from new angles, however, Bong’s subject matter does not change with his journeys into new styles. These movies are all about the absurdities and indignities of modern society; whether we’re lurking in a secret basement or jetting off to a distant planet, we’re all trying to navigate the inane waters of capitalism run amok.

In “Mickey 17,” that takes the form of a self-serving mission to colonize a new world. Kenneth Marshall (Mark Ruffalo) is described in the film as a “failed politician attempting to establish a kingdom beyond the stars.” He’s not half as smart as he is loud, with a bizarre fixation on caloric energy output and a team dedicated to making him look wise and heroic. (Bong has claimed none of the characters are based on real figures, but you can certainly picture Marshall behind the wheel of a Cybertruck.)

A cadre of the devoted and the desperate joins Marshall’s crew, hoping to find a suitable exoplanet and propagate a very selective segment of the human race — and a few unlucky dregs. Mickey Barnes (Robert Pattinson) occupies the lowermost rung of this society’s ladder; he’s an expendable, a worker drone designed to suffer constant pain and death only to be revived in a new body after each experiment. After serving as the mission’s guinea pig, Barnes is jerkily spat out of a tube like a printout emerging from a laser printer.

The current generation, the titular 17th, is in a fulfilling relationship with one of the ship’s security officers (Naomi Ackie) and would prefer not to die again anytime soon. When an old friend from Earth (Steven Yeun) leaves him for dead in a crevasse, the 18th iteration is printed out — much to the surprise of his predecessor, who makes it back alive.

Pattinson excels in both roles, finding ways to simultaneously exaggerate and humanize his dual personas. (He’s also tasked with delivering frequent voice-over narration, a necessary evil to cram in a lot of world-building.) Ackie frequently hijacks the film in delightful fashion; Ruffalo chews the scenery, though not as often as Toni Collette as Marshall’s culinarily obsessive wife. (“Sauce is the true litmus test of civilization,” she explains.)

The allegory is pleasantly restrained in the early going and perhaps a touch too direct in the third act. Like Bong’s prior work, however, the strength of “Mickey 17” lies in its ability to deliver its message as genuine entertainment. It’s a funny, engaging and occasionally stirring film that stands firmly on its convictions — then delivers a memorable experience with charm and style.

My Rating: 9/10

“Mickey 17” is now playing in theaters.