I feel like I was personally targeted the trailer for this film before every film I saw at the cinema for about a month. I didn’t have particularly high expectations, the trailer didn’t land for me, I don’t think you get a good sense of the tone, so it looked like it was going to be fairly generic, especially when it has a pretty awful title (which makes more sense when you watch the film).

Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die takes place when a man who claims to be from the future enters a diner, claiming that a rag tag mixture of the customers must join him on his journey to save the world from a rogue AI.

I should’ve had higher expecations because director, Gore Verbinski has never let me down. I obviously enjoy the Pirates of the Caribbean films he directed (the first 3) and I really enjoyed A Cure for Wellness. Despite the trailer being fairly generic, and not feeling like anything special, GL, HF, DD delivers one of the most entertaining films I’ve seen for quite a while. The main thing that impressed me most was how well the film nails the tone that this film is going for. It delivers the exact right mixture of comedy, of emotion, of darkness and a great chunk of science fiction.

A lot of the credit also has to go to the writer, Matthew Robinson, who I think is underrated, and I think must have these moments of comedy in his scripts, and great understanding of tone in general that suits the genre. I think back to his previous work that I’ve seen Love and Monsters and Dora and the Lost City of Gold, I think nail the tone they should be going for perfectly, and this is another example that can be added to his list.

Sam Rockwell leads a fantastic cast who all commit to the tone and suit it, but none more so that Rockwell. An Oscar winner in his career, and time and time again shows he is one of the most consistently excellent performers in no matter the role he plays, no matter the genre. It’s not an easy job this one at all, and not only does he make it look like he had a lot of fun in this role, but you also have to question what his character’s saying, whether you can believe and trust him the entire time. The very centre of the film, and there are many people who could’ve done the role he does.

The supporting cast of Juno Temple, Haley Lu Richardson, Michael Pena and Zazie Beets all have their own mini Black Mirror-esque stories as part of flashbacks, which help keep the pace of the film moving, and break up the action of their present day. All of them lead each of their flashbacks really well, and bring the same energy to the present day scenes as well.

Overall, Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die is one of the most unique and fun experiences I’ve had in the cinema for quite a long time. A film, I almost missed out on seeing at the cinema, but I’m very grateful I managed to catch it before it left. Fantastic performances, a great tone, and strong writing will make this one of the best cinema experiences of the year.

What did you think of Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die?

Two more reviews to go, then I’ll be all caught up. Be sure not to miss those by following me @floodersfilms or via the buttons below!

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