“Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die” Battles a Sinister AI
Anyone in their right mind is at least a little bit nervous about Artificial Intelligence. What seemed like a distant threat with the 1991 premiere of Terminator 2:Judgment Day suddenly feels frighteningly real with the introduction of Chat GPT and increasing use of self-driving cars. Rather than solve complex geopolitical problems or research innovative cures for disease, an artificial persona called Grok is spending its time undressing actresses on social media. The rot seems to be spreading exponentially and we may be nearing a point of no return. Gore Verbinski’s Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die explores this possibility with a time travel adventure warning about the dangers of AI proliferation. On the night in which AI is invented, a time-travelling hero attempts to install a program that will hopefully prevent the downfall of mankind.
We join the story at a crowded diner that could be located anywhere in America. A random assortment of patrons gape at a dirty intruder who claims to be from the future. Describing the era from which he came, this Man (Sam Rockwell) warns of a post-apocalyptic hellscape in which machines have taken over everyday life. Humans are hunted and either enslaved or forced to spend their lives in hiding. And while AI may be an inevitability, he’s returned to shift us into a less destructive timeline. Several blocks away, a 9-year-old boy is about to invent this self-governing tech and the Man intends to install a system of safeguards just moments before it becomes self-aware. But this mission is not as easy as it sounds. The all-powerful machines will stop at nothing to protect their creation even if it means taking human life. The Man warns that he has attempted this mission hundreds of times with no success and that most of his team will probably die. Should this happen again, he will resent the timeline and start again.
As the Man lays out his case, Verbinski gives us the backstories of his hastily assembled team. Zazie Beetz and Michael Peña are high school teachers disturbed by students who grow violent when you try to divert their attention away from their phones. Juno Temple is a grieving mother who loses her son in a school shooting and opts to create a cloned replica. Because replacing children lost to gun violence is easier than stopping the gun violence itself. More mysterious is Ingrid (Haley Lu Richardson), a young woman allergic to technology and wifi who finds herself increasingly isolated from the world. She watches in horror as her formerly tech-avers boyfriend is transfixed by virtual reality and finally opts to exist there full time. It’s this frightening future that provides the seeds of humanity’s undoing. More and more people are choosing to take “sabbaticals” and disappear into a virtual world ostensibly better than our own. Verbinski argues that the price of this escapism will be the dissolution of humanity as we know it.
Verbinski blurs genre lines with this quirky action horror comedy adventure. This dark and gritty reality is filled with deadly attacks from surprising sources as the AI machine tries to defend itself. While some of these monsters are flesh and blood, others are AI monstrosities including a massive creature made of bloodthirsty kittens and a horde of zombified teenagers. Rockwell balances these fantastical elements with his trademark dry wit and acerbic tongue. But he’s able to deftly navigate the story’s more tender sequences, puncturing the Man’s abrasive shell. While Beetz, Peña, and Temple prove to be unexpected yet relatable heroes, it’s Richardson who becomes the story’s heart as an idealistic dreamer resigned to spending her life alone.
Accepting that AI is an inevitability, Verbinski is more concerned with our human response to the tech that seems destined to take over our lives. Throughout this dangerous night, we’re reminded of the beauty in watching a simple sunset and sharing the moment with someone you love. The story’s quirky tone and outlandish action sequences soften an otherwise preachy message. Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die does not argue against technology itself, but urges us to maintain our own humanity and warns against choosing engineered perfection over the flawed beauty of reality.
Jenn Adams is a writer and podcaster from Nashville, TN. Find her on social media @jennferatu.