{"id":32962,"date":"2026-02-12T01:33:55","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T09:33:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=32962"},"modified":"2026-02-12T01:33:55","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T09:33:55","slug":"good-luck-have-fun-dont-die-is-a-wild-science-fiction-ride","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=32962","title":{"rendered":"GOOD LUCK, HAVE FUN, DON\u2019T DIE is a Wild Science-Fiction Ride"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Running Time: 134 minutes<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This feature film from Briarcliff Entertainment opens\nexclusively in theaters on February 13th<\/sup>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Director Gore Verbinski made a name for himself with the\noriginal Pirates of the Caribbean<\/em> trilogy and Rango<\/em>, the\nOscar-winning animated film. But in recent years, he appears to have moved his\nproductions abroad. Almost a decade ago, he delivered the surreal, eerie and\ngorgeously shot A Cure for Wellness<\/em>, which was set in a sanatorium and\nmixed psychological trauma with classic monster movie elements. It wasn\u2019t for\neveryone, but this reviewer found it engaging, unique (compared to other\npictures of the time period) and a lot of fun to watch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His latest film is Good Luck, Have Fun, Don\u2019t Die<\/em>, a\nscience-fiction effort that would play well on a double-bill with his previous\ntitle. It\u2019s filled to the brim with wildly creative and surreal imagery and a\nstory that you wouldn\u2019t find in a Hollywood production. In fact, the movie is\noverflowing with ideas, so much so that it may be overwhelming at first. But\nthe exaggerated approach suits the story and message, and the final result is\nmemorable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The story is set in America just a few years in the future,\nwhere all humanity is glued to their cell phones, barely looking up and\nacknowledging others around them. Violence is also prevalent, with deadly\nschool shootings barely registering with the populace. The world is beginning\nto enter a dark period, but no one appears to be noticing. One night, a group\nof patrons in a Los Angeles diner, including teachers Mark (Michael Pe\u00f1a) and\nJanet (Zazie Beets), a traumatized parent (Juno Temple), a mysterious teen\n(Haley Lu Richardson), and several others have their meal interrupted by a\nstrange, disheveled man (Sam Rockwell).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The crazed figure delivers an incredible speech, stating\nthat he is from the future. Artificial intelligence has taken over the world,\nbut he and his cohorts have discovered how to travel back and forth in time.\nHumanity needs to slow down AI technology in order to have some control over\ntheir futures. To do so, this man from the future requires a group of\nindividuals to help accomplish his goal by taking part in a dangerous mission.\nUnfortunately, the previous 116 attempts have failed horribly, forcing him to\npress a red button on his person, travel back to the future, and then try again\nby starting another timeline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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What follows is a darkly comic chase as a ragtag group of\npatrons are hastily assembled and try to accomplish a seemingly impossible\ngoal. The narrative then jumps around, filling in chilling details about the\nlives of some of the patrons. While the events are exaggerated and many details\npresented in a grimly humorous fashion, they feel like things that could occur\nin the coming years. In the process, the story subtly manages to make points\nabout the state of the country, AI, gun violence, and our addiction to\ntechnology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While there is a lot going on story-wise, lead Rockwell is\nextremely entertaining and grounds the story. A lot of the humor is derived\nfrom the manic figure\u2019s many explanations to the confused group why a\nparticular idea won\u2019t work as intended and only lead them to a painful death.\nHe is also very averse to taking along one individual, resulting in a dramatic\nreveal late in the film.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The photography is gorgeous, from the diner and various\nlocations, to the increasingly odd figures and beings the group encounters. And\nthe action is also very well-shot and edited. The creator of the AI sends\nnumerous, increasingly odd and eccentric forms out to hunt down the group,\nresulting in a climax offering original visions that this reviewer can\u2019t recall\nhaving seen in a movie before. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As with any time-travel feature, one must allow for some\ncreative license. This is a fast-paced feature filled with so many ideas that\nany of the character\u2019s individual stories could be enough to sustain its own\nfilm. Additionally, the finale ends up taking place at such a surreal and\nover-the-top locale that this reviewer missed out on how exactly it came to be.\nTruth be told, it\u2019s best just to go along for the ride and just let the\ncraziness wash over you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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As mentioned in previous reviews, the early months of the\nyear often see the release of movies that either don\u2019t work as intended, or are\neccentric and may not be to all tastes. The second scenario isn\u2019t necessarily\nbad, and sometimes an oddball effort is special and worthwhile. Good Luck,\nHave Fun, Don\u2019t Die<\/em> is not a sequel, but an original film overflowing with\nimagination, as well as deeper ideas about problems concerning the future and\nartificial intelligence. It\u2019s a distinctive effort that isn\u2019t easily forgotten,\nand like Verbinski\u2019s previous feature, should at the very least become a cult\nitem.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Running Time: 134 minutes This feature film from Briarcliff Entertainment opens exclusively in theaters on February 13th. Director Gore Verbinski made a name for himself with the original Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy and Rango, the Oscar-winning animated film. But in recent years, he appears to have moved his productions abroad. Almost a decade ago, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":32967,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[217,697,3514,4660,6104,6105,6106,8498,8499,8529,8801,8943,8944,11353,13822,17566,17776,24751],"class_list":["post-32962","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-217","tag-action","tag-briarcliff-entertainment","tag-comedy","tag-dont-die","tag-dont-die-movie-review","tag-dont-die-review","tag-good-luck","tag-good-luck-have-fun-dont-die","tag-gore-verbinski","tag-haley-lu-richardson","tag-have-fun","tag-have-fun-dont-die-film-review","tag-juno-temple","tag-michael-pena-2","tag-sam-rockwell","tag-science-fiction-2","tag-zazie-beets"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32962","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=32962"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32962\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=32962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=32962"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=32962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}