THE CAST – Sam Rockwell, Haley Lu Richardson, Michael Peña, Zazie Beetz, Asim Chaudhry, Tom Taylor & Juno Temple

THE TEAM – Gore Verbinski (Director) & Matthew Robinson (Writer)

THE RUNNING TIME – 134 Minutes

The early 2000s were a great time to be Gore Verbinski. After an initial run of financially successful films, he steered the ship for the first three entries in the “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise, earning critical acclaim and box office success with a trio that grossed more than $2.68 billion worldwide. He followed that run by winning the Oscar for his next film, the animated “Rango” (2011). For a time, he appeared to be on top of the movie world. Then came “The Lone Ranger.” The 2013 critical and financial disaster effectively sent Verbinski to what many call “Director Jail,” and, aside from the little-seen 2016 horror film “A Cure for Wellness,” he has not directed since. A reprieve may now be in the offing with his new sci-fi satire, “Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die,” a comedic barrage of chaos in which a Man From the Future returns to the present to warn of the destruction AI will cause in the decades ahead.

Casting an agent of chaos with a sharp sense of humor is no small task, yet Academy Award winner Sam Rockwell proves an inspired choice. Wearing a scraggly beard and clad in a chic ensemble fashioned from garbage bags and what appears to be a suicide vest, he bursts into the iconic West Hollywood diner Norm’s and announces to stunned patrons that he is seeking recruits to help save the planet’s future. Met with silence, he moves from booth to booth, selecting seven “volunteers” with curious familiarity. There is a reason for that familiarity. This marks the 118th time he has stormed into Norm’s to deliver the same message to the same group of diners, attempting to assemble the precise septet needed to reach the inventor of AI and implant a fail-safe mechanism to prevent the coming catastrophe. He has failed 117 times. This time, however, with this particular combination of reluctant recruits, the outcome may finally change.

Screenwriter Matthew Robinson structures the narrative along two tracks. The first follows the team’s swift progress toward locating the nine-year-old prodigy developing the AI system. Surprised by their early success, the Man From the Future begins to scrutinize his team more closely. That scrutiny fuels the second track, a series of flashbacks revealing each recruit’s fraught relationship with advanced technology.

Mark, played by Michael Peña, is a substitute teacher at the same school where his wife, Janet, played by Zazie Beetz, works. Eager to inspire his students, he instead confronts a classroom of children glued to their phones. When he touches one device, all the phones lose power, prompting the students to rise in zombified unison and stalk the couple through the streets in search of restored connectivity. Verbinski layers the sequence with playful nods to George Romero’s films.

Elsewhere, Susan, portrayed by Juno Temple, is a grieving mother approached by a tech company offering to clone her recently deceased son, provided she agrees to have advertisements periodically inserted into his consciousness. Ingrid, played by Haley Lu Richardson, suffers from a severe allergy to WiFi and cell signals, costing her both her boyfriend, played by Tom Taylor, and her job as a children’s party entertainer. Because of her disheveled appearance, the Man From the Future has overlooked her in previous attempts. Her inclusion now may be the variable that changes everything.

Verbinski directs with a striking visual style that punctuates the film’s many sight gags while establishing a grunge-inflected aesthetic suggestive of impending urban decay. Not every flourish lands, and certain elements feel under-explained, yet when the film connects, such as during the surprise appearance of a gigantic whiskered creature evoking “Ghostbusters,” the result is memorably offbeat and reminiscent of “Everything Everywhere All It Once” in its energy and style.

The film occasionally falters in Robinson’s screenplay. The imaginative conceits are bold, but the dialogue can feel overly explicit, reiterating themes already conveyed visually. The broad condemnation of modern technology sometimes borders on preachy, and the pacing contributes to a 134-minute runtime that could benefit from tighter editing, particularly within the flashbacks. Still, “Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die” marks a welcome return for Verbinski. The film revisits themes that have coursed through his earlier work, from rebellion against oppressive forces in “Pirates of the Caribbean” to questions of heroism in “Rango.” Here, he insists the film was made without AI, and the conviction behind that claim is evident in its unruly, handcrafted energy.

The post “GOOD LUCK, HAVE FUN, DON’T DIE” appeared first on Next Best Picture.

THE CAST – Michelle Mao, Haley Lu Richardson & Jin Ha

THE TEAM – Kogonada (Director/Writer)

THE RUNNING TIME – 99 Minutes

It’s tough when an artist just doesn’t work for you. Oftentimes, it can feel like you’re the problem, especially when many respectable voices highly praise said artist. Such is the case with myself and Kogonada, the video essayist turned filmmaker. While I can recognize the unquestionable beauty of his patient, contemplative films “Columbus” and “After Yang,” something about their deliberate pacing and introspective dialogue keeps me at a distance (I skipped his latest film, the tepidly-received “A Big Bold Beautiful Journey,” altogether). But like any good cinephile, I’m always willing to give additional chances, and the enigmatic, supernatural-sounding plot description of his new film “zi” caught my attention. But alas, all of the qualities that make a Kogonada film unique and distinctly his are here. Which is to say, anyone who found themselves swept up in and enchanted by the stories and worlds he crafted in his past films will likely feel similarly about “zi,” but it won’t convert any skeptics.

The titular Zi is played by Michelle Mao. She’s a young woman in Hong Kong whom we meet at the start of the film, visiting her parents’ graves. And from an early phone call, it can be gleaned that she’s awaiting some sort of diagnosis to explain neurological issues she’s been having. Through her perspective, we quickly see what’s disturbing her: she keeps seeing visions of herself, but slightly removed from her current position and in the future. This premonistic ability leads Zi to El (Haley Lu Richardson), a young woman similarly wandering Hong Kong. El is an American dancer who, tired of receiving rejections at auditions, fled her home country. She approaches a distressed-looking Zi on the street, who claims to have seen El in the future. The concerned El attaches herself to Zi, hoping to help her and, maybe, herself at the same time.

From the very beginning, the film adopts a deadly serious tone. Every single thing every character says, no matter how far-fetched, is taken at face value by those they’re interacting with, and thus by the movie itself. Every line is cloaked in meaning, begging the audience to feel as profoundly about the characters’ circumstances as the characters do. This humorlessness is simply tiring and makes the film feel taxing, like getting stuck talking to a self-important freshman philosophy major at a college party. The meandering structure – both in the light plot and in the literal actions of the characters – calls to mind Kogonada’s first feature, “Columbus.” But that film at least used the framing device of the main characters’ shared appreciation for the unique modern architecture of Columbus, Indiana. This gave their ambling a purpose. Here, it’s a much more aimless outing. 

Every element of the film contributes to its melancholy feeling, including the sparse, sad (but admittedly pretty) musical selections. And as is always the case with Kogonada’s movies, it’s shot and cut with an inarguable beauty. Cinematographer Benjamin Loeb frames the characters against the concrete structures of Hong Kong, emphasizing their smallness amid the region’s vastness. Wide shots are especially effective when depicting Zi’s futuristic foresight, giving them an eerie quality. And the editing, done by Kogonada himself, swirls and stirs the narrative, making the audience feel as untethered to linear time as the main character.

Haley Lu Richardson is a frequent muse of Kogonada’s; this film marks their third collaboration after “Columbus” and “After Yang.” And clearly, the pair works well together. Richardson is fantastic, investing El with a bohemian energy that feels appropriate, given her artistic background. This helps sell her instant connection with Zi better than the writing does. Even if this isn’t perfectly explained, Richardson’s spirit helps make the fast bond feel less sudden and strange. Michelle Mao is a captivating presence as Zi, managing to make an underdeveloped character compelling. Jin Ha plays Min, a friend of El’s, and just like Mao, he does his best to make a flat character captivating. At least he gets a chance to show off his beautiful singing voice; it’s no wonder that he’s performed on Broadway.

Despite being well-shot and beautifully constructed, as all Kogonada films are, “zi” is a ponderous, rambling journey. Its director’s brand of deeply earnest, conversational movies, revolving more around characters exchanging ideas than a typical plot, may be a desired flavor for his fans. However, for others, such as this critic, he remains an acquired taste that’s still frustratingly unacquired.

The post “ZI” appeared first on Next Best Picture.