Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Miles Teller, Jurnee Smollett, Sam Delich, Tess Haubrich, BeBe Bettencourt
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Genre: Science fiction, dystopian
Duration: 107 minutes
Now streaming on Netflix
Spiderhead will leave you with either two things – what just happened? Or so that happened? The title of the movie is from the penitentiary facility where the prisoners are test subjects for different drugs that play with emotions. Steve (Hemsworth) is the guy who runs the facility, with Mark (Delich) as the guy who does the actual administering. The prisoners have devices called mobipacks that are loaded with the different drugs, and Mark controls how much is injected into their bodies using a phone.
Before they receive a drug, they have to give verbal consent. It all seems like a stand-up facility. Hemsworth’s narration will also make you think it is some zen place that is working for the good of the world. His tone and voice belie the shadiness going on. This shadiness becomes apparent via Jeff (Teller) who is given N-40 and then manipulated into putting one of the other prisoners in danger. As the shadiness unfolds, it turns out to be even more messed up than you could imagine. Cue the so that happened vs what just happened reaction.
The plot is so promising. However, it does not deliver that punch as expected. Yet Hemsworth and Teller play their parts so well that you want to see where they are going with the story. By the time the movie ended, I was relieved that I did not have to keep watching something so disconcerting, yet I also had so many unanswered questions.
I would recommend this only for people to see what I mean, not because it is rivetingly entertaining. The New Yorker article on which the movie is based is definitely more intriguing.
–Grace Kenganzi
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