It is always wonderful to see a filmmaker receive their dues, and there’s a specific satisfaction that comes when it happens to someone who has been doing solid work for years but has not received as much admiration as they deserve. A few years ago, there was a steadily growing sentiment that Gore Verbinski was not only a terrific filmmaker but someone radically ahead of his time. Unfortunately, he also had the burden of creating a franchise that is both one of the most memorable of the early 21st century (with the first two entries into the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise being spectacular), and one that many consider to have overstayed its welcome based on the inability for the studio to realise that it wasn’t necessary to make nearly half a dozen films built around the premise. However, in the time since working on those films, Verbinski has done some solid work, albeit not as regularly as before, and the combination of nostalgia and long absences from the medium is a winning combination when it comes to reassessing a filmmaker’s value in the industry. His most recent work – coming a decade since his last directorial outing – is Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die, in which Verbinski attempts to get a grasp on the worrying development of modern technology, being one of his excursions into the future rather than the past. The premise is simple: an unnamed man storms into a diner in Los Angeles and announces that he is from the future and has been sent back in time to prevent the end of the world. He has to assemble a team (consisting of a ragtag group of patrons) who he will deputise in his efforts to save the world, only to realise that it is a fool’s errand when the sinister forces against which they’re battling prove to be far more intimidating than anyone could’ve imagined. A film that is made to be misunderstood at first, but quietly appreciated in hindsight, Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die has a lot of promise, but whether or not it succeeds wholeheartedly is up to individual interpretation.

With the rise in any kind of trend or widespread cultural development, there are going to be works that either celebrate or critique it in some way. We’re a species that is naturally very hesitant to embrace new technology, especially when it’s something that we don’t quite understand or find to be inappropriately stepping into the dominion of more respected parts of our lives. However, the situation we’re currently experiencing with artificial intelligence is slightly different – proponents of this technology compare the criticism to those who were against the rise of sound cinema or digital filmmaking, which is frankly a moronic and myopic position to take (since those were all crafted by humans, even if they made use of new tools), but also overlooks the real concern, which is the worrying rate at which this technology is developing – anything that can grow so fast and overtake decades of hard work should immediately be regulated, which is simply not happening. This treatise is very much the foundation of Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die, a film that unequivocally sets out to show how disastrous this unrelenting march towards artificial intelligence domination already is, and how it can become even more of a negative force if allowed to be left unchecked. Considering he is someone who has always embraced cutting-edge technology (in fact, many consider the work Verbinski did on the first two Pirates of the Caribbean films to be the gold-standard for computer-generated imagery, especially when it comes to character design, something that has somehow become far worse in recent years, a rare case of developing technology leading to regressions in aesthetics and style), it is worth paying attention to what he is saying here, which is an unfiltered, direct warning to not allow artificial intelligence to become even more of a dominant force in our lives. It’s not a blanket rejection of the technology, since even those who are vehemently against most of it will acknowledge that there is potential for it to do some good in sectors such as medicine and science, with the concern being the rise of the generative versions of these models, and we find that the film is built around some fascinating ideas that the director carefully weaves into something far deeper than it appears to be on the surface.

Despite its complex subject and urgent tone, Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die is not a film that intends to be all that heavy or challenging, especially since Verbinski has always been driven by the desire to tell stories that are entertaining and upbeat, or at least give the audience a memorable experience. His decision to craft what he intends to be a steadfast warning against the destructive power of technology that has the potential to do irreversible harm into a wacky, off-the-wall science fiction comedy about time travel is very smart, since it has dual purposes: it allows the message to be delivered in a more palatable, interesting way and it gives him the chance to have some fun, which is as important as the underlying meaning beneath the film. Verbinski has always been extraordinarily ambitious (sometimes to his own detriment, since he’s evidently someone slightly ahead of his time), and this film underlines this brilliantly – everything from the production design and costuming, both of which complement the semi-futuristic tone that is intended to be realistic but slightly uncanny, to the tonal elements, is well-constructed and feels genuinely interesting. Rather than depending on the most advanced technology, the director is instead focused on creating something that feels like a throwback to the low-budget science fiction B-movies of the 1950s, which clearly influenced him in more ways than one, based on both the do-it-yourself aesthetic and the message revolving around world-ending technological developments. It’s certainly going to be an acquired taste, and those who are most likely to enjoy this film are going to be the ones with a penchant for the absurd and slightly off-kilter, since Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die is most definitely not trying to pander to the masses, with its strange tone (which exists somewhere between Buster Keaton and Hammer House of Horror, with a bit of postmodern absurdism thrown in for good measure) being slightly misaligned with what we usually expect from the genre. It all becomes quite fascinating, and we are reminded that, even at his most bizarre, Verbinski is almost always producing work that is worth watching, this being a welcome return for a fantastic filmmaker.

In bringing this story to life, Verbinski finds a perfect collaborator in the form of Sam Rockwell, who is one of those actors who is not only exceptionally talented but also has a complete lack of pretension, being consistently willing to do whatever is required to make a story work, even if it means taking on an absolutely ridiculous character. The unnamed protagonist of Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die is a quintessential Rockwell character – he’s a wise-cracking oddball who speaks at a mile a minute and whose physical appearance immediately suggests that he is the very antithesis of conventional. However, unlike many of his peers who have also made their careers playing eccentric characters, Rockwell never neglects to infuse his performance with an abundance of humanity, which is where the film thrives. He is the main attraction here, and while he has won multiple accolades over the course of his career and has played several leading roles, he still feels underrated, solely because he is the rare kind of actor with a career spanning several decades, but who we still feel has yet to show us his best work, an exciting realisation when we consider how many of his colleagues tend to rest on their laurels through retreading the same archetypes. He’s by far the main reason to seek out Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die, but he’s joined by a solid supporting cast, such as the always wonderful Haley Lu Richardson, someone who has similarly been doing incredible work for years, yet still seems shockingly underpraised, despite her exceptional talents and ability to play several complex roles. Zazie Beetz is someone who has only grown as an actor, being a reliable presence, and Juno Temple brings a unique energy to a part that could’ve been one-dimensional in the hands of most other actors, especially when it comes to handling the more emotional content. We don’t always expect films like this to have strong performances, but the nature of the story does lend itself to some interesting ensemble work, with Verbinski extracting solid work from the entire cast in the process.

We have to ask, is the true success of a film defined by the lengths to which it showcases a sincere ambition, or how effectively it implements these ideas into practice? Logically, we veer towards the latter – we’ve seen on countless occasions that a good concept can easily be squandered by lacklustre execution. However, in the case of this film, we find that even at its most inconsistent, there’s a gumption driving the project that we can’t avoid admiring, even from a distance. It’s a wonderfully compelling work when it wants to be, but it does take some time to get used to its many layers – it presents itself as something more straightforward at first (and in an ideal version, it would’ve focused exclusively on the elements set in the present moment), before leaping into a series of vignettes set in the near-past, which complicate the narrative in as many ways as it clarifies, which creates a very peculiar dynamic, and one that requires the viewer to actively be drawing the connections and picking up the subtle clues that drive this story. Ultimately, Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die is a film that builds itself around a very timely and pressing topic, but rather than preaching, it chooses to look at artificial intelligence through the lens of an incredibly offbeat, unconventional dark comedy that merges science fiction and slapstick humour to create something sardonic and entertaining, while also daring to challenge the audience to shift our perspective and create something far more engaging than we would expect at a cursory glance. Verbinski is a filmmaker who deserves much more credit for some of his innovative filmmaking (we can leave off the misfire that was The Lone Ranger, even if there were some interesting decisions made in an otherwise dismal film), and while it may not be his defining work, Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die does prove to be a welcome return to the medium for the director, who will hopefully not wait another decade to return to the medium when making his next film.