Our heads exploded watching the trailer starring Sam Rockwell at his Rockwell-iest. Gore Verbinski (Pirates of the Caribbean) directs this film about the coming AI apocalypse in a multi-layered, absurdly dark, but comic sci-fi time-travel tale. This, his first film in 10 years could be a new cult classic ranking with The Hitchhikers’ Guide to the Galaxy or The Fifth Element. But the director was reportedly inspired by 3 films: Dog Day Afternoon, Repo Man, and the 1988 Japanese adventure film, Akira.
Rockwell looks like the bottom of the barrel as he handles a lot of fast-paced dialogue, written by Matthew Robinson, that amps up the story’s intensity. He’s dressed in a clear plastic raincoat, plastic tubes hanging off all over him, and a wild unkept beard making him look more like a disheveled street-dweller than a time traveling savior.
This energetic man from the future (no name) bursts into iconic Norm’s Diner in L.A. maniacally there to recruit a collection of characters to help save humanity and the future from the mind-numbing addiction to tech. He’s out-of-control as a sarcastic, manic, glib, hilarious, yet melancholy leader who’s already been through this exercise, trying and failing more than 100 times.
While strangely familiar with the people in Norm’s diner, he’s there to put together a team he knows better than they know themselves. After chaotic action in the diner, this diner crasher gathers a bunch of misfits. The story unfolds in a series of chapters going back to the same period of time, looking through the lens of each character played by this stellar off-kilter cast.
The first to volunteer is Susan, (Juno Temple) who has a sadness about what her world has become, followed by married couple, Mark and Janet (Michael Peña and Zazie Beetz), high school teachers who can’t get their students’ heads out of their phones. Burly Scott (Asim Chaudhry) warily signs up to help our ring leader stop the coming revolution before everyone into tech zombie slaves. Their fearless leader tells them from the get-go they all won’t survive.
The character who stands out and holds her own against Rockwell is a young woman (Haley Lu Richardson) who plays generic princesses at kids birthday parties. Her unique quality is that she’s tech averse. Whenever she’s around the internet and wifi, she has an immediate reaction. As long as she’s away from addictive screens, she’s fine. Princess falls in love with a cute guy delivering pizza to one of the parties. Sparks fly with Tim (Tom Taylor). He’s a dreamboat who uses a map book instead of GPS and they fall in love, riding off into the sunset on his motorcycle for a romantic life together, until something changes.
Verbinsky turns this into a tense action movie with Rockwell’s character and his team running all over the place to stay alive and finish his mission. Cinematographer James Whitaker follows one chase after another and they are all well shot and wildly chaotic. Music drops from different artists including David Bowie and Talking Heads, among others, create various moods. It often doesn’t jive with what you see on the screen seeming off-balance. Will this collection of characters be able to find what the key needed to limit AI so personal connections can still exist?
This is also a plea for us to be wary about the AI era we’re now embracing. We can’t stop the coming advances in technology, but we need to be aware of what might be coming that could influence or change our personal connections. Verbinsky takes to task our world of screen addiction and the proliferation of AI. This is one fun, incisive, mind-bending film filled with bravado you’ll want to see again. And who better than Sam Rockwell to propel us on this weird, wired, wild ride.
Briarcliff Entertainment 2 Hours 14 Minutes R
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