Now on Netflix, In the Hand of Dante takes place across two timelines. In one, Nick (Oscar Isaac) is an author working on a translation of Dante’s Divine Comedy who gets caught up in a scheme to steal a manuscript of the epic poem written in Dante’s own hand. In the other, Dante (also Oscar Isaac) works on completing the poem under financial and social pressures. Gal Gadot costars as the love interest in both timelines, and Gerard Butler appears as a murderous gangster and also as Pope Boniface VIII. There were several beautiful elements in In the Hand of Dante. The more contemporary timeline is filmed in black and white and looks crisp and arty. The choice to film the past in color and the present in black and white also subverts expectations and reaches toward commenting on the truth Dante seeks in contrast with the seedy criminal world of the heist. That reading feels generous, because the screenplay does so little with those themes. I also enjoyed the use of verse and poetic language throughout. Otherwise, In the Hand of Dante is a mess. The Divine Comedy offers such rich thematic options, from the hope of seeking salvation to pettiness and revenge, but the screenplay does not work deeply with any of it. We get characters who are lost, like Dante was, but they lack self-awareness, and the redemption arc falls flat. Instead, the screenplay is bloated, taking detours and offering useless expositions. Gerard Butler’s performance was cliched and there was too much of him. Meanwhile, Gal Gadot’s character does little but look pretty, which is her strength, but when she has to perform in an emotional climax, the result is wooden. Oscar Isaac always delivers emotionally resonant performances, and we also get some fun cameos from Al Pacino and Martin Scorsese. A good performance, technical ambition, and an interesting premise are not enough to overcome a pretentious and meandering screenplay. I was shocked and disappointed by how bad this film is. In the Hand of Dante was written by Louise Kugelberg and Julian Schnabel, who directed, based on the novel by Nick Tosches. It runs 150 minutes and is rated R. Now streaming on Hulu, Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die also undertakes lofty storytelling goals but does so more successfully. It starts with a strange man (Sam Rockwell) bursting into a diner, claiming that he’s from the future, and looking for people to help him save the world. Among those who volunteer are Susan (Juno Temple), who has cloned her son after he was killed in a school shooting; Ingrid (Haley Lu Richardson), who is allergic to technology and lost her boyfriend to virtual reality; and Mark (Michael Peña) and Janet (Zazie Beetz), teachers who have a mob of zombie teenagers chasing them. Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die feels like an episode of Black Mirror but with the comedy dialed up and the despair dialed down. The film creates a tech dystopia that, according to the time traveler, is only going to get worse, drawing on themes about smartphone addiction, Artificial Intelligence, and what makes life meaningful. The specifics of the terrible future are fuzzy, leaving plenty of room for the viewer to project, while the screenplay hones in on how certain technologies create a gilded cage through the illusion of happiness. Recently, I read an article by Jessica M. Goldstein on LitHub, asserting that time travel stories are inherently optimistic because they rely on the idea that we can change the future. Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die may be optimistic that a tech apocalypse can be averted, but it resists a happy ending, maintaining its edgy fun in doing so. The story is most thoughtful when it confronts the idea that AI is inevitable with the genre of time travel. Few things in life are truly inevitable, and nothing in a time travel story is. In the often goofy pairing of time travel tropes and absurd AI graphics, the screenplay highlights how new technologies can be used to deceive. In the end, cliches seep in, but writer Matthew Robinson manages to pull away from platitudes and provides a satisfying ending. Sam Rockwell is perfectly cast as the time traveler, whose hardened but witty perspective sounds tailor-made for Rockwell’s voice. The plot surrounds Rockwell’s character with so much bonkers stuff that it keeps the performance from feeling overly familiar. Hailey Lu Richardson’s performance sneaks up on you. At first, her sullen character comes off as typecasting, but as she evolves, Richardson shines, particularly opposite Rockwell. Juno Temple’s Susan has a tragic story that she portrays with soft-spoken tenderness. Michael Peña and Zazie Beetz have fun moments, but generally have less narrative space. Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die is stuffed with bizarre imagery, action, sci-fi world-building, and a biting perspective. At times, it feels like too much and not all the creative risks land, but the human story at its core makes it a fun, thoughtful movie well worth watching. Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die was written by Matthew Robinson and directed by Gore Verbinski. It runs 143 minutes and is rated R. ...read more read less