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Five years after his historic Oscar wins for "Parasite" (which was the first film not in the English-language to win Best Picture at the Academy Awards), director Bong Joon Ho returns with "Mickey 17." Bong adapted the screenplay from Edward Ashton's novel and undoubtedly put his own touch on the film, but "Mickey 17" is a wildly uneven movie to experience.

After winning Best Director (along with Picture, Original Screenplay and International Film for "Parasite") all eyes were on director Bong's next move. "Mickey 17" has been a long gestating project that experienced a lot of shuffling around on the release calendar, which always ignites speculation. Why does the studio keep moving it? Is it bad? Will it return Bong to the Oscars? The movie isn't terrible, but it certainly isn't going to return Bong to the Dolby stage.

Robert Pattinson stars as Mickey Barnes, who lives on a planet years into the future with his friend Timo (Steven Yeun). On Earth, they owed a lot of money to bad people, so they took a job on the planet Niflheim as an "expendable," which involves them to continually die and be re-printed as a new version of themselves. The planet is run by a cartoonish and failed politician Kenneth Marshall (Mark Ruffalo) and his wife Ylfa (Toni Collette). Naomi Ackie co-stars as Mickey's love interest and closest confidant.

Mickey is currently in his 17^th iteration of himself, but an 18^th is printed, which causes conflict on the planet (and allows Pattinson to give a dual performance). Like a lot of Bong's films, "Mickey 17" is brimming with socio-political commentary, but unlike the perfectly fine-tuned screenplay of "Parasite" and its handling of class commentary, "Mickey 17" attempts to tackle too many subjects. Bong's films aren't always the most subtle when they are tackling topical issues, but there are points during the movie where it feels like characters do everything but look at the screen and say "Do you get what we are trying to say?"

Presenting Ruffalo's buffoon politician as someone with an unwavering following of supporters who sport - ahem - red hats will leave most rolling their eyes, but "Mickey 17" is a movie that makes the obvious suggestion and then moves on. There isn't much about the film that feels fleshed out, fully developed, or willing to explore one topic on any meaningful level.

Instead, the movie is more concerned with its overly quirky tone and trying hard for cheap laughs set against its dystopian backdrop. "Mickey 17" is tuned to the key of Bong's "Oakja," a much more successful and outlandish entrant in his filmography, but his hand isn't as steady here as it was in his previous pictures. Fans of the novel will find plenty to like about the film, but as a long awaited follow up to such a culturally significant movie as "Parasite," "Mickey 17" feels like a bit of a letdown.