Joe Carnahan's high-concept action thriller drops a group of unwilling participants into a real-world death game broadcast to an anonymous online audience. Idris Elba and John Cena deliver exactly the film demands, and the demands are considerable.
The Game
Joe Carnahan, whose best work (Narc, The Grey) has always balanced pulp premises with genuine human stakes, brings that balance to Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die � a film about an underground tech billionaire (Cena) who has built a real-world death game where participants believe they're playing a video game until they start actually dying. Idris Elba's Marcus is an ex-military contractor whose particular skills make him a uniquely interesting "player" � someone who begins to understand the game's real architecture while everyone around him is still trying to survive.
"Carnahan at his most inventive. Elba is magnetic, Cena is genuinely menacing, and the film's dissection of online spectator culture gives it real contemporary bite."
� EmpireThe Verdict
A smart, propulsive action film with more on its mind than most genre entries of its type. Elba and Cena make for a compelling antagonist pairing. At $58M worldwide, this is exactly the kind of mid-budget original action cinema that deserves more love.
Joe Carnahan's high-concept action thriller drops a group of unwilling participants into a real-world death game broadcast to an anonymous online audience. Idris Elba and John Cena deliver exactly the film demands, and the demands are considerable.