Pirates of the Caribbean director's first film in nearly 10 years is being hailed by critics as "the best Black Mirror episode in nearly a decade"

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Pirates of the Caribbean director's first film in nearly 10 years is being hailed by critics as "the best Black Mirror episode in nearly a decade" News By Lauren Milici published 11 February 2026

Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die is a good, fun time

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Reviews are in for Gore Verbinski's new movie Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die – and they're overwhelmingly positive.

The film stars Sam Rockwell as the unnamed "Man from the future" who takes the patrons of a Los Angeles diner hostage in order to help him save the world from a rogue artificial intelligence. The cast includes Juno Temple, Haley Lu Richardson, Michael Peña, Zazie Beetz, Asim Chaudhry, and Tom Taylor. At the time of writing, the film sits at a 92% Rotten Tomatoes score.

Good Luck marks Verbinski's first movie since 2016's psychological horror A Cure for Wellness, which received mixed reviews and underperformed at the box office. Before that, Verbinski directed The Lone Ranger, which, at the time, was Disney's biggest box office flop to date. Critics are calling Verbinski's new movie a return to form for the director, who is most known for helming the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy.

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The Daily Beast lauded the film as a "captivatingly silly saga about the pitfalls of our modern techno-obsessiveness," with Mashable commenting that it's "exciting to see something so earnest and human and utterly bonkers."

In their review, Polygon called the bizarre sci-fi adventure pic the "best Black Mirror episode in more than a decade," but also referred to it as a "blatant Terminator rip-off." It's hard to imagine Rockwell doing the whole "Come with me if you want to live bit," but that kinda makes me want to see the movie even more.

Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die hits theaters on February 13. For more, check out our picks of the best sci-fi movies of all time.

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Contact me with news and offers from other Future brandsReceive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsorsBy submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. Lauren MiliciSocial Links NavigationSenior Entertainment Writer

Lauren Milici is a Senior Entertainment Writer for GamesRadar+ based in New York City. She previously reported on breaking news for The Independent's Indy100 and created TV and film listicles for Ranker. Her work has been published in Fandom, Nerdist, Paste Magazine, Vulture, PopSugar, Fangoria, and more.

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