Surely, Geoffrey Hinton was overstating the dangers of Artificial Intelligence in his speech at the Nobel Prize banquet in December 2024. The British-Canadian computer scientist, cognitive scientist, and cognitive psychologist — who has been dubbed “the Godfather of AI” — was there to accept the Nobel Prize in Physics, along with physicist John Hopfield, "for foundational discoveries and inventions that enable machine learning with artificial neural networks.” In his speech, he warned that the rapid progress in AI comes with many short-term risks, including the creation of “divisive echo-chambers by offering people content that makes them indignant.” He asserted that it was “already being used by authoritarian governments for massive surveillance.”
Probably just nervous hyperbole, right? Just some frantic exaggeration from a well-meaning worrywart, right? There’s no reason to be concerned about AI-driven unemployment, societal collapse and human obsolescence. Probably.
In the new film “Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die,” the antagonist is artificial intelligence and its manipulation of social media. Directed by Gore Verbinski and written by Matthew Robinson, the film was released in theaters on Feb. 13, 2026, by Briarcliff Entertainment. It somehow manages to straddle the line between funny sci-fi adventure and provocative cautionary tale. It is an ecstatic, wonderfully weird spectacle and a startlingly dark take on a bleak cyberpunk future.
The action begins almost immediately. At precisely 10:10 p.m., an unkempt, strangely outfitted fellow bursts through the door of Norm’s Diner, a crowded Los Angeles eatery. Initially, the patrons choose to ignore the intrusion, but The Man From The Future (Sam Rockwell) promptly launches into a long-winded lecture in which he claims he has traveled from the future to complete an important mission. From those present in the diner, he must build a team that can help him stop an impending apocalypse triggered by the birth of a rogue Artificial Intelligence. He possesses an uncanny knowledge of these patrons: He knows their names, acknowledges their potential strengths and flaws, and predicts their actions.
As it turns out, this is the 117th time The Man From The Future has gone through this exercise. Each previous attempt has failed, causing him to hit a reset button that allows him to start over again. Despite the string of failures, Rockwell’s character is still convinced that the key to success is finding the right permutation of would-be heroes.
For this attempt, The Man From The Future manages to rally Susan (Juno Temple), Scott (Asim Chaudhry), Bob (Daniel Barnett), Marie (Georgia Goodman), and couple Mark (Michael Peña) and Janet (Zazie Beetz). Ingrid (Haley Lue Richardson) also volunteers. The Man From The Future rejects her at first — but fate intervenes, and he reluctantly acquiesces. Not all the soldiers tapped to play a role in the revolution will survive.
Compelling “Black Mirror” inspired backstories are provided for some of the key players. Earlier the same day, Mark and Janet, working at the same high school, had been stalked by zombie-like students obsessed with streaming content on their phones. Susan — whose son was recently killed in a school shooting — had agreed to let a company provide her with a clone, which had failed to live up to her expectations. Ingrid reveals that she has an allergy to electronic devices and Wi-Fi, and that her boyfriend left her when he became addicted to a virtual reality.
Their undertaking is deceptively simple: Find the 9-year-old whiz kid (Artie Wilkinson-Hunt) creating a super powerful AI that will take over the world. They must insert a security protocol from the future that will keep it from enslaving humanity. The team faces many obstacles as it traverses Los Angeles neighborhoods, including the law enforcement officers responding to a 911 call about a hostage situation at the diner, a knife-wielding homeless man, a pair of masked men who are trying to kill them, and — well, I won’t spoil that AI slop surprise.
“Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die” doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Viewers will recognize some familiar ideas: think “12 Monkeys,” “Terminator,” “Groundhog Day,” “The Matrix,” and “They Live.” This film borrows concepts from those films and from ideas that have been evolving and recurring in science fiction literature for decades, with nods to Isaac Asimov, Stanislaw Lem, Phillip K. Dick and William Gibson. This depiction of these high-concept ideas is refreshingly infused with a punk rock attitude and a satirical edge that makes the viewer laugh in the moment — but the narrative still retains that existential dread lurking just beneath the surface.
The film warns about the potential perils of social media, AI, and virtual reality. Verbinski forces viewers to consider how AI is already distorting how we perceive reality. Passive consumption of digital media is accelerating the widespread decline in critical thinking skills, facilitating the proliferation of misinformation and manipulation of the masses.
Rockwell leads a stellar cast. Richardson’s Ingrid is a mystery that needs to be solved, and she delivers a solid performance. Peña is reliable as the reluctant hero. Wilkinson-Hunt pulls off a particularly creepy rendering of a disturbing AI boy.
Verbinski keeps viewers guessing about the protagonist’s sanity and veracity as the mission commences. His objectives, his motivation and his sanity are always somewhat elusive. Somehow, he still manages to nurture a sense of loyalty from those that make up his ragtag team.
Just for funsies, I logged into a social question-and-answer website that hosts a chatbot platform with a dedicated AI smart tool designed to generate “fast and accurate movie reviews.” In response to a prompt for a “professional movie review” of the film “Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die,” the AI spat out a 554-word critique that failed to include the name of the director or a single member of the cast. Its synopsis was completely inaccurate, it misrepresented the protagonist, and it discussed plot elements that simply don’t exist in the film. The only valid sentence — “The pacing is tight, with moments of high-tension action balanced by quieter, introspective scenes” — could be applied to practically any decent action movie.
I guess I’m safe for a little while.
Lee Clark Zumpe is entertainment editor at Tampa Bay Newspapers, a Tomatometer-Approved Critic, and an author of short fiction. He can be reached by email at lzumpe@TBNweekly.com.
