SPIDERHEAD on Netflix is a new genre-bending movie starring Chris Hemsworth, Miles Teller, and Jurnee Smollett. The genres are sci-fi, thriller, mystery, drama, and action. But really, it’s quite character-driven. Read our full Spiderhead movie review here!
SPIDERHEAD is a new Netflix movie with some important messages. However, the main thing with this one is pure entertainment. I mean, yes, you can easily take a lot more from it, but if you’re not in the mood for that, then just sit back and let yourself be entertained.
This genre-bending Netflix movie utilizes the genres sci-fi, thriller, mystery, drama, and action. However, especially the character played by Chris Hemsworth offers quite a few bits of comedy as well. Also, there are brutal (even bloody) moments in this story as well.
Continue reading our Spiderhead movie review below. You can watch the film on Netflix from June 17, 2022.
Chris Hemsworth having fun!
I knew I would enjoy watching this movie just from the cast. However, I have duped myself into thinking this before and ended up disappointed. For Spiderhead, I wasn’t disappointed. Or rather, I was exactly as entertained as I expected, but the movie could’ve delved even deeper into the very dark elements of the core story.
Then again, by going that route, it would also lose some of the viewers that just want to be entertained. For the wide appeal – that I am certain Netflix is going for with this one – I can easily understand their reasoning for keeping it lighter.
With Chris Hemsworth in the lead role as brilliant visionary Steve Abnesti, we’re off to a stellar start. Chris Hemsworth plays this character with exactly the right amount of “mad scientist”-vibe. Also, he is very likable and funny in an off-beat kind of way.
And really, Chris Hemsworth is amazing when he gets to utilize his awesome comedic timing. For me, that’s what made Thor Ragnarok such an awesome movie. Leaning into the funny side of Chris Hemsworth is never a bad thing.
Great cast and characters with a somewhat predictable plot
As the other main characters in Spiderhead, we have Miles Teller (Whiplash) and Jurnee Smollett (Lovecraft Country). They portray the characters Jeff and Lizzy respectively. Both are inmates at the state-of-the-art penitentiary run by Steve Abnesti (Chris Hemsworth).
This isn’t your average prison. Instead, it looks more like a Big Brother house. As in the iconic reality TV show. There are no bars or cells, nor is anyone wearing orange jumpsuits. They do all have jobs, but we’re talking cushy jobs and they can even ask for something different if they’re not happy.
In the Spiderhead facility (or prison), the incarcerated volunteers are pretty much free to be themselves. However, there is, of course, a price; They are part of an experiment where drugs are tested on them. Ever the fair and (sort of) honest humanist, the volunteers even have to give the OK for the actual drug to be administered.
Miles Teller and Jurnee Smollett work really well in their roles as people who are incarcerated, but clearly much harder on themselves than any sentence could be. This also means that you will probably be able to guess many plot twists ahead of time. It doesn’t ruin anything but could’ve been cool with even bigger twists just to shock the viewer.
Watch Spiderhead on Netflix!
This new Netflix movie, which will no doubt be number 1 in its weekend of release, was directed by Joseph Kosinski. Yes, the same Joseph Kosinski, who is currently ruling the box office worldwide with Top Gun: Maverick. Another movie co-starring Miles Teller. Previously, he directed the sci-fi movie Oblivion (2013) based on his own graphic novel.
Spiderhead is based on The New Yorker short story “Escape from Spiderhead” by George Saunders with the screenplay written by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick (Deadpool, Zombieland). The two also wrote Life (2017) which was another genre-bending movie.
In some of the press material, Spiderhead is described as a “genre-bending and darkly funny psychological thriller” which I would agree is spot on! Could it have been better or darker? Sure. But then it would also have been a very different movie in most ways. I enjoyed it exactly as it is. Will I watch it again? Probably not, but I still liked it!
Spiderhead is out on Netflix from June 17, 2022.
Details
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Miles Teller, Jurnee Smollett
Plot
In a state-of-the-art penitentiary run by brilliant visionary Steve Abnesti (Chris Hemsworth), inmates wear a surgically attached device that administers dosages of mind-altering drugs in exchange for commuted sentences. There are no bars, no cells, or orange jumpsuits. In Spiderhead, incarcerated volunteers are free to be themselves. Until they’re not. At times, they’re a better version. Need to lighten up? There’s a drug for that. At a loss for words? There’s a drug for that, too. But when two subjects, Jeff (Miles Teller) and Lizzy (Jurnee Smollett), form a connection, their path to redemption take a twistier turn, as Abnesti’s experiments start to push the limits of free will altogether.
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