Oh AI. Are you going to be the end of us, meaning flesh and blood humans? Have we served our purpose? Was our purpose to create you all along? Are we, collectively, parents to this new life and it’s soon gonna be time to for us all to go to sleep? Hells bells. Like a lot of you out there, I’m beginning to wonder: what is the point of all of these films celebrating humans fighting the good fight as they preface our inevitable downfall? I know movies are made by a finite number of people and stories are stories, as well as questions and meditations and so on. But what is it exactly are we doing with these cautionary tales about technology? Are we telling on ourselves, because they’re looking more like handovers rather than warnings at this point. It’s downright boring these days to state that social media and phones in general are bad for us, especially for the young and especially since they are the future. Then again, there is no future and there is no past, the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11) and The Terminator (1984) are forever (as Moses and James Cameron quietly shed tears). So what is this loop? Director Gore Verbinski – Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003), Rango (2011), A Cure for Wellness (2016) – takes a bold, sci-fi, comedy swing for this moon with Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die (2025). Sam Rockwell – Box of Moonlight (1996), Galaxy Quest (1999), Moon (2009) – leads the charge as an unnamed man from the future (allegedly) with a rag-tag scrum of nobodies gathered at a random late night diner. He and his tentatively-persuaded volunteers are on a mission to stop humanity’s upcoming doom/AI takeover. He’s done this over a hundred times à la Groundhog Day (1993) and is convinced that with the right group, his mission can succeed. Included in the posse are: Juno Temple, Zazie Beetz, Haley Lu Richardson, Asim Chaudhry and Michael Peña, and all except Chaudhry’s character are actualized via Black Mirror-esque vignettes. Most are fun, but they take the wind out of the main story. They’re entertaining, it’s just that the central thread loses rather than gains momentum, and too much time away from Rockwell is always a detriment in my opinion. But the real crime is that there’s no backstory given to Chaudry’s character. This man is a legit scene-stealer, in all the best ways. If you haven’t stubbled upon it already, the BBC mockumentary series People Just Do Nothing (2014-2018) is a real farcical find. Unfortunately, he’s cast as an American here, deflating his comedic ease, which is a shame because he’s one of the funniest and most original performers to emerge in some time. But the main issue with this film is it’s too bloody long, for the point we all know it’s making I mean. That being said, the first half is really great and it is a blast overall. Even if it is a lullaby.

WATCH OR NOT: WATCH