Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die is a time-travel adventure that’s tonally chaotic, but that’s in service of a story that captures both the humor and horror of where the world is heading.
From the Terminator and The Matrix movies, to smaller, more grounded fare like Her and Ex Machina, Hollywood has been warning us about the dangers of AI, as well as what might happen when the machines take over. That future is rarely painted in a positive light.
Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die tackles the issue head-on, via a sci-fi story that starts out funny, before tackling deadly serious issues, with Matthew Robinson’s episodic script struggling under the weight of multiple genre shifts.
But Gore Verbinski – directing his first feature in nearly a decade – nimbly walks that tonal tightrope, resulting in an entertaining movie with much on its mind.
What is Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die about?
Good Luck kicks off in unconventional fashion, with Sam Rockwell’s mysterious man from the future storming into a diner at 10.10pm, and holding court for a quarter of an hour.
With long straggly hair, an unruly beard, and tatty clothes wrapped in pipes and wire, he looks like a castaway, but the timer counting down on his wrist suggests otherwise, and as he stomps across tables and consumes fistsfuls of food, he strikes an ominous tone.
“This isn’t a robbery,” he assures the confused patrons. “I am from the future, and all of this goes terribly wrong.” He then details how the future is f*cked because of what we did in the here and now, through our increasing reliance on artificial intelligence.
He explains that it starts with morning phone time getting longer and longer, before people stop getting out of bed, and society collapses under our noses without anyone really noticing.
But humanity can be saved, through a team assembled from the 47 people in that very diner. Though the correct combination of people needs to be found, as he’s tried and failed a total of 117 times, with this his 118th attempt at saving the world.
Unlikely heroes assemble
The man makes his picks for this iteration of the mission, with some volunteering, in spite of being told that “if you come with me, there’s a chance you will die tonight.” While other recruits are press-ganged into service.
But just as his makeshift army is about to head out of the diner and into the night, the movie itself travels back in time, to establish members of the team by giving them back-story. Which enriches the narrative by presenting the audience with context regarding who we are watching and how they fit into the story, but does mean the central story loses momentum.
Mark (Michael Peña) and Janet (Zazie Beetz) are up first, with the former stressed out about his first day working as a substitute teacher at the latter’s school. And he’s right to be concerned, as the 11th grade English class that Mark teaches are all addicted to hypnotic images on their phones, scrolling through page after page like zombies.
It gets worse, as when Mark challenges their addiction, the teenagers turn on him as one, and chase both Mark and Janet through the corridors of the school, during which a somewhat contrived discovery has a pretty major impact on the main mission.
The movie then pinballs between present and past, as the team carry out that mission, while we learn more about their members, and how specific experiences and skills might come to be key.
The team includes Susan (Juno Temple), whose son is killed in a High School shooting during the movie’s most outlandish handbrake turn. And Ingrid (Haley Lu Richardson) who is allergic to technology, and makes a living working as a generic princess at birthday parties.
Mixing horror with humor
Which is a lot to wrap your head around, and there are times when Good Luck feels less like a clear, concise, and cohesive story, and more like an anthology of disparate tales that have been cribbed from elsewhere and stitched together.
The A-plot is clearly reminiscent of the aforementioned Terminator – as well as the many sci-fi stories that inspired James Cameron’s movie – though Robinson’s script finds the humor in that well-worn premise.
There’s also laughs in the B-plots, most notably the school segment, which plays like The Faculty, before transforming into something more akin to The World’s End.
And while there’s initially less humor in the Susan segment – for good reason – Good Luck then cleverly satirises the fallout from that school shooting via a sub-plot about clones, and jokes about advertising that suffer from being featured in recent Black Mirror episode ‘Common People.’
But the sci-fi, horror, and humor all neatly coalesce during the film’s lengthy climax, which delivers genuine emotion, some monstrous memes, and several satisfying twists and turns.
Is Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die good?
Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die is a film with lofty ambitions, to deliver blockbuster thrills through a time travel adventure, while making distressing statements about the predicament the planet finds itself in, as well as the depressing future that lies ahead.
That’s a tough ask, and while Matthew Robinsons script – as viewed through Gore Verbinski’s lens – succeeds for much of the movie’s run-time, there are also moments when it confounds and frustrates, especially when the narrative feels like it’s going backwards when it should be moving forward.
But the ever-reliable Sam Rockwell is their secret weapon, with his charm and charisma repeatedly pulling the characters – and the audience – back from the brink.
Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die score: 3/5
If you can cope with high-concept sci-fi that’s broadly comic one minute, and gravely serious the next, Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die is a wild ride.
Apollo 17, quel piccolo frammento lunare che cambia tutto