Film Review of 'Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die' by Eeshan ShejwalkarFilm Review of 'Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die' by Eeshan Shejwalkar

Film Review of 'Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die'

Eeshan Shejwalkar

Completed work

Writer

Substack

In the year of The Odyssey, Disclosure Day, Dune 3, Doomsday, Project Hail Mary and other big hitters, came a film that quietly put itself in the conversation for one of the most interesting films in 2026 (at least on my list).

‘Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die’ directed by Gore Verbinski sat on my Amazon Prime Watchlist since it released there. That duration of 2-3 weeks or whatever was sadly more than its theatrical run.

Gore Verbinski is truly an underrated man. The stylised sci-fi dark comedy brings to the table the true meaning of adapting to and adopting technology. With a lot of talk in the world about AI and tech driven living, Gore Verbinski has shown us a mirror to the human race slowly losing its humanity. A packed storyline with some absolutely outrageous moments and a stacked cast will make this film a talked about one in the future.

How does Gore Verbinski do that? None of his films are heavy hitters when it comes to their respective years except for The Dead Man’s Chest, the second in the Pirates of The Caribbean trilogy. In 2002, The Ring, which created waves in the horror genre, was overshadowed by Spider Man, The Two Towers, Minority Report, Signs etc. In 2003, Pirates of The Caribbean was the fourth highest grossing film being overshadowed artistically by The Return of the King, Matrix Reloaded, Finding Nemo, Big Fish, City Of God etc. but the most talked about film became the Pirates. Same thing happened in 2007, with At World’s End, 2011 with Rango, 2016 with The Cure for Wellness and now in 2026. It is almost a habit for Gore Verbinski now.

Sam Rockwell and Haley Lu Richardson shine in this film as they do in any film no matter how small their role is. Stylish and sleazy cinematography by James Whitaker and written well by Matthew Robinson. That indie film treatment to a sci-fi concept is well executed. Made on a budget of $20M is so good to see. A Cat Kaiju and the whole climax on that budget is outrageous. To be a little critical, I think the third act is a bit looser in comparison to the first and the second but it is written very well. The first scene with the whole exposition was so amazingly written and so beautifully shot without giving away the whole deal. It could have cut short on the flashbacks and tbh I saw the plot twist coming. Not just me I think anyone who sees a lot of films will see it coming.

While this film was flawed and far from perfect, it was a watch that put forth a lot of questions.

Film Review of 'Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die'

In the year of The Odyssey, Disclosure Day, Dune 3, Doomsday, Project Hail Mary and other big hitters, came a film that quietly put itself in the conversation for one of the most interesting films in 2026 (at least on my list).

Recommended.