Spiderhead

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"Pharmacy companies are evil." There, summed up the entire plot for you. I'm usually not a fan of the recent streamer trend of turning what was a 90 minute film into a multipart series, but this film is an example where that would have been a huge benefit. We don't learn enough about Hemsworth or his background (other than he's a "greedy guy") to care about his comeuppance. We barely learn about the protagonists' romance or the lead woman's backstory enough to care about her. The other inmates are soulless automatons. We get very minor character development from the lead, but it's essentially just "his GF is dead, he is sad." Imagine how much better this film would be as 6-10 episodes? Give the story a purpose other than "Pharma Bros are bad". Make the audience actually care about anyone at all.

Firstly, flawless acting performances from the main cast, you can see the emotions switch with the most subtle of facial changes. This film was just, okay. Not terrible, not amazing, just okay for Friday night viewing. But the makers seemingly didn't know what genre of film they were creating. It starts off all light hearted and you're lured into believing its a comedy, then you're fixed within a drama/thriller through the middle, only for it to end as a light hearted comedy in its climax?

The premise is great but it could have done much more with these themes, being very predictable on his structure. Chris Hemsworth is great on this one and there is a fantastic soundtrack to listen. However, it feels much longer than it is, being a bit repetitive at times. There is a reasonable number of fun and inspired moments though.

No, nothing is right here. After 40 minutes, nothing has actually happened. Spiderhead is advertised as a thriller, but it is not. The story, wherever it wants to go, is uninspiredly told, no tension is built up and Hemsworth is clearly miscast. Whatever Netflix was trying to achieve with its recent productions, I don't know, but Spiderhead joins the ranks of tired and cheaply produced films that should simply be ignored.

Colorful cinematography and spirited editing contrast with the characters' tragic backstories. In the end its a morality tale, one that goes too far and too fast.

The result is a movie that is less thought-provoking and more aggressively lame. Hemsworth's charismatic persona and Teller's dramatic performance are not enough to keep this film afloat. Everything culminates in a bonkers final act that's surprisingly awful. Once again, the tone is all over the place as the film ends with a jarring shift to a needle-drop action sequence that feels all over the place in a so-bad-it's-good way. What had the potential to be a darkly funny, suspenseful, claustrophobic sci-fi story amounts to none of that, leading to a colossal miscalculation that you won't care for once the credits roll.

Spiderhead was a delightful surprise on a Saturday night when I sat down to pick a movie at random on Netflix with my relatives. It is dystopian but familiar, dramatic with some goofiness, and tense without taking itself too seriously. All contradictory statements, sure, but maybe I was just given too much Verbulance and am rambling.

Your enjoyment levels of 'Spiderhead' are going to require some suspensions of disbelief. You're going to have to accept Chris Hemsworth as a scientist, you're going to have to accept Miles Teller as a prisoner and you're going to have to accept possibly the most unrealistic prison environment ever put to screen. If you can get past those things you should have a decent time. The premise was a bit of a let down for me. In theory there are some interesting concepts stemming from it that they could've explored, but they seemed intent on not straying too far. The script really does get the bare minimum out of the idea. Teller and Hemsworth are what keep this afloat. Even if their casting may seem a little silly, their charisma makes up for it. At least one of the them is on screen in every scene. I can see this film totally falling flat without their star-power in the lead roles. I didn't hate this film, I just wanted more. There was a point where I thought it was actually setting itself up nicely to have a dark and twisted turn. But it never came and what played out was pretty forgettable and uninspired. It's not a terrible watch but don't go in expecting anything game-changing. 6/10.