At first glance, Netflix seemed to have assembled a solid and exciting team to make the sci-fi thriller Spiderhead. The writing team consists of the duo behind Zombieland and Deadpool, Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, and Top Gun: Maverick director Joseph Kosinski. The Netflix Original has an impressive cast, including Chris Hemsworth (MCU’s Thor), Miles Teller (Top Gun: Maverick), and Jurnee Smollett (Birds of Prey). Sadly, while the film initially looked like something different and original, it fizzles in the second half.
Based on the short story “Escape from Spiderhead” by George Saunders, the movie is set in a state-of-the-art penitentiary run by the brilliant and unorthodox Steve Abnesti (Chris Hemsworth). With the permission of the inmates, he experiments on them with mind-altering drugs. He hopes to discover the right combination to control the worst in human beings and make the planet a peaceful, loving paradise. At least, that’s what he tells everyone. In truth, there is much more going on here. Spiderhead follows the inmates and Steve as things inevitably go sideways and then horribly wrong.
Hemsworth has a lot of fun playing Steve, and it showed, giving the character that combination of charisma and swagger and the feeling that he’s a few sandwiches short of a picnic. He’s a genius, there is no doubt, but as the movie evolves, the lack of morals, deliberate or not, in certain areas is clear. Miles Teller (who is very tanned for an inmate) plays Jeff, Steve’s favorite subject, for numerous reasons. The whole ‘Steve and Jeff’ thing they have in the film is pretty well done, feeling odd but also strangely alluring. Together the two build some solid chemistry and push the story along nicely. For a while, anyway.
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Unfortunately, it all falls apart in the second half, losing its way to cliches and themes we’ve seen done many times over the years. Director Kosinski does his best to keep it all together and move things at a good pace (the film has a tidy run time of 106 minutes). Still, the more characters and stories that are brought in, the more the story gets bogged down, and the less interested the overall ideas are. Jurnee Smollett plays Lizzy, who has some great chemistry with Jeff, but even that at times seems so obvious, to the point it’s embarrassing watching the actors trying to almost force this plotline.
I will say the film looks fantastic. Cinematographer Claudio Miranda (who also worked on Top Gun: Maverick) gives us sweeping shots of the location and some brilliant colors and shades. Miranda’s talent gives the penitentiary a weird but interesting feeling of being both welcoming and dark. Also, let’s hear it for a fun soundtrack. While it’s almost a given that most films try and shoehorn in some nostalgic music these days, there was some fun to be had here.
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There are a lot of themes and ideas tossed around in Spiderhead, and sometimes they are used in a fascinating and thought-provoking way. It’s a shame the movie lost its voice in the second half and spiraled into a mess. It becomes littered with cliches and too many moments that just didn’t seem to fit in with the story we see play out in the beginning.
Spiderhead will stream exclusively on Netflix starting June 17, 2022.
