A Bonkers Sci-Fi Movie About The AI Apocalypse

It’s been a decade since we have had a Gore Verbinski film, which is a travesty as a result of he’s considered one of our best blockbuster film administrators on the market. Verbinski is a director with a watch for well-used VFX, which could be very uncommon in Hollywood today — Davy Jones stays one of many single biggest laptop graphics creatures of all time, whereas his animated film “Rango” was so good it made ILM select that mission as a substitute of engaged on “Avatar.”

Verbinski is aware of methods to make even a small story really feel big, whether or not that is the balls-to-the-wall slapstick madness of “Mouse Hunt,” or his remake of “The Ring” — arguably the only finest English-language remake of a horror film ever made. Now, he is lastly again after spending years engaged on an animated musical for Netflix to no avail, and it’s a grand return for the director.

“Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die” begins out inconspicuously, with a daily night at a Los Angeles diner the place patrons are having fun with their meals, every having a narrative of their very own however in any other case not drawing consideration. Then Sam Rockwell arrives as a person dressed up in what can solely be described as techno-hobo-core, an outfit clearly made out of no matter was discovered on the dump of a cyberpunk cosplay retailer. The man, together with his lengthy and stringy hair and shuffling awkwardness, would not waste time in making a scene. He says he is from the longer term, and he’s on the lookout for volunteers to assist him on a mission to destroy a rogue synthetic intelligence earlier than it destroys the world. Granted, nobody takes him severely — at first. But he begins addressing the patrons with assured familiarity, saying he says he is finished this over 130 instances. Is he nuts? Is the contraption tied round his chest a time machine or a makeshift bomb? Why does he understand how a lot change this random patron has in his pocket?

What follows is a really bonkers, balls-to-the-wall, hilarious sci-fi journey that begins out as “Repo Man” and finally ends up going full “Akira.” It’s daring, it is bought a terrific forged, it is one of many timeliest style films in years. It is nice to have Gore Verbinski again.

Though comparisons to “Black Mirror” are to be anticipated, “Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die” feels extra in tune with “The Mitchells Vs. The Machines” in the way it infuses coronary heart with absurdist humor and an usually cartoonishly bonkers story about our dystopian relationship with expertise. Arguably the trickiest and most poignant the film will get is in its depiction of college shootings. The script from Matthew Robinson (“Love and Monsters”) focuses on not simply the tragedy, however the unlucky approach such a tragedy has turn out to be frequent to the purpose of being rudimentary to the American expertise.

It reveals that duality first in a flashback explaining how two faculty lecturers (performed by Michael Peña and Zazie Beetz) ended up within the diner at the beginning of the story. Through the eyes of Peña’s character we see how weirdly regular each lecturers and college students deal with faculty shootings, with everybody hunkering down in a secure room and simply scrolling by social media, ignoring what’s taking place exterior — earlier than happening about their day with out a single care as soon as the emergency occurs. But by the story a personality performed by Juno Temple, we expertise the precise tragedy of dropping a toddler to such mindless violence. And but, there may be nonetheless a tongue-in-cheek humor about all of it, as different dad and mom deal with the taking pictures as simply one other extracurricular exercise; one other PTA assembly they should attend each few months.

As bleak (and humorous) because the film’s remedy of college shootings is, the ire of “Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die” is aimed instantly at AI and social media. The film argues repeatedly that social media was the start of the top for civilization as we all know it, and AI is simply its herald of the apocalypse, its one and solely horseman. 

Toward the top, when the film begins enjoying round with the concept of simulations and VR, creating wildly creative visuals to confuse the viewers concerning what’s and is not actual, the film loses a little bit of steam — notably when it goes full “Akira” when it comes to physique horror and metaphysical speak. Still, it is simple to get on the wavelength of “Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die” and simply be alongside for the experience. Though Verbinski’s smallest film since “Mouse Hunt,” it nonetheless feels as bold because the director’s blockbuster work.

/Film Rating: 8 out of 10

“Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die” premiered at Fantastic Fest. It will open in theaters on January 30, 2026.