Ever since his BioShock movie was cancelled, I’ve often wondered how Gore Verbinski would tackle a video game movie. With Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die, the director, known for his exceptional production values and audacious approach to grandiose subject matter like Pirates of the Caribbean and The Lone Ranger, has effectively given us a movie that wears its video game inspiration on its sleeve but doesn’t feel weighed down by having to adhere to any source material (or those nagging fans who get upset over every little use of creative license). Even the film’s title is a nod to the universal advice every video game player gets when they start a new game: Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die.
Sam Rockwell plays a time-traveler who arrives in a heightened (but not that heightened) version of our own world. He’s on a quest to fight an AI program that will one day take over the world, a la Terminator, by turning the population into VR-addicted drones. His only allies are a handful of diner denizens who are on the fence as to whether he’s actually from the future or just a tweaked-out hobo.
The story switches back and forth from their mission in the present day to the backstories of the various members of the diner crew, showcasing how they wound up at the diner and their connection to the satirical sci-fi world presented in the film. This is a world where school shootings have become so rampant that the solution is to clone your kids to replace them after their inevitable murder at the hands of their fellow students. It’s a world where school faculty are powerless to even communicate with their students, who will turn from sedate and passive-aggressive to a rabid, angry mob if a teacher so much as touches one of their phones. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg for the delightful, but scarily plausible, absurdity presented by the film’s setting. All told, it’s a world where a VR utopia can be seen as a reasonable alternative to reality.
The supporting cast includes Michael Peña, Zazie Beetz, Juno Temple, and Haley Lu Richardson as the eccentric weirdos who find themselves on an unlikely mission to save the world.
Their quest borrows strongly from the language of video games (the numerous allusions to the popular Portal video game throughout aren’t exactly subtle). Sam Rockwell’s character is on his 117th attempt to save the world, using different combinations of diner denizens, and their various strengths and weakness, to try and change the outcome this time around. However, in a nice touch, this isn’t a “Groundhog Day” ripoff, though it is invoked through dialogue early on. We don’t see any of Sam’s previous attempts. The movie is fully focused on this one particular ‘run,’ so to speak, and is all the better for it.
The best part of Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die is the sheer unpredictability of it all. From scene to scene, the world becomes more and more fully-developed, and new absurdities, twists, and unforeseen developments emerge. It never slows down. The movie builds to levels that are downright absurd. I imagine some people might clock out during the third act, but that’s on them for not being able to keep up with the punk rock energy and palpable audacity of Gore Verbinski.
I don’t know what the film’s budget is. I try not to think of such things, but as a fan of Gore Verbinski, I know the man likes to spend big, and he always brings a spectacular, singular energy to all of his work. While I can’t imagine he had Disney “Lone Ranger” money to spend on this one, Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die doesn’t suffer much for it. I don’t want to give away any of the setpieces or large-scale CGI moments, but Verbinski does what he always does: he friggin’ goes for it. He’s a master of capturing the geography of a sequence, and that strength shines here, with exciting action sequences that are kinetic and exciting, but never devolve into visual chaos as a substitute for choreography and cinematography.
It would be easy to describe Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die as ‘part Terminator, part Brazil’ and call it a day, but such a reductive assessment undercuts the film’s video game sensibilities, Sam Rockwell’s outstanding performance in the lead role, and the depth and nuance of this particular satirical look at America in the modern age where we have alternatives to reality like never before in human history. Honestly, you’re not prepared for what Verbinski brings to the table here, and the end result might not work for everyone. But for those who are willing to go along on this odyssey and find themselves grooving to its particular vibes, Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die is an instant all-time classic.
TV Squad Score: 10/10