Spiderhead
A prisoner in a state-of-the-art penitentiary begins to question the purpose of the emotion-controlling drugs he's testing for a pharmaceutical genius.
- Released: 2022-06-17
- Runtime: 105 minutes
- Genre: Action, Thrillers
- Stars: Chris Hemsworth, Miles Teller, Jurnee Smollett, Tess Haubrich, BeBe Bettencourt, Angie Miliken, Jane Larkin, Ron Smyck, Joey Vieira, Elke Hinrichsen, Sam Delich, Mark Paguio, Daniel Reader, Ashleigh Lawrence, Stephen Tongun, Rachel Forsyth, Jariah Travan, Regan Sharp, Elliot Chenery, Aykut Karacam, Wyomi Reed, Nathan Jones
- Director: Joseph Kosinski
Comments
- moviesfilmsreviewsinc - 15 February 2024
Messed Up film
"Escape From Spiderhead" is a short story by George Saunders that aims to provide a way to escape from Spiderhead. Netflix has warned viewers of its wrongheaded adaptation, which features acts of self-harm, but this is not surprising given the author's reputation for humor. The source material was translated by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, who are known for their work on Deadpool, and then given to Joseph Kosinski, who directed "Top Gun: Maverick." The Netflix logo, which bears the imprimatur of The New Yorker Studios, also bears the imprimatur of The New Yorker Studios. The film stars Chris Hemsworth, Miles Teller, and a man with tattoos covering half his body, who is big enough to eat both of them. "Spiderhead" is a movie that explores the dark and deranged premise of Saunders' short story. The movie takes place in a futuristic research facility called Spiderhead, where prisoners of serious crimes are offered an alternative to hard time by participating in drug tests conducted by a sociopath named Steve Abnesti (Hemsworth). The drugs have tongue-in-cheek names like Luvactin and Darkenfloxx, which manipulate human emotions and behavior. Before Abnesti can administer these mood-changing substances, subjects must verbally say "acknowledge." However, the real manipulator is Abnesti, who bullies and cajoles his subjects into inappropriate situations. Examples of such situations include using Luvactin to make disinterested parties jump each other's bones, repeating the same test with various parties, and forcing one subject to choose which of his mates receives a potentially lethal dose of Darkenfloxx. These situations are difficult to make funny when performed by real people. Hemsworth's performance in the role of a scientist is not suitable due to his callousness and unprofessional experiments. The comedy should come from the ethical implications of his experiments, which cross various lines. Hemsworth's in-on-the-joke lines are not enough, as there is no joke to be in on. Reese and Wernick believe the film is featuring the song "She Blinded Me With Science" during experiments, which they believe is not relevant. George Saunders' Spiderhead is a film that explores the complexities of human behavior and the consequences of actions. The film stars actors who are trained to find reality in their roles, but the extreme humor in the film is pitched at an unbelievable extreme. The characters, including Abnesti and his human guinea pigs, are locked away for heinous acts, with Jeff (Teller) playing a sympathetic character who kills his best friend. The film team focuses on the escape-from-Spiderhead idea, but they don't think suicide would make for a happy ending. The movie's setting is a chic concrete bunker on a remote tropical island, and the architect, who appears to have watched James Bond movies, may have read the source material and realized the movie would be going in a different direction. The direction could be Michael Bay's version of "Flowers for Algernon" or the Stanley Milgram study reinvented as an action movie. Saunders' story is amusing, but not his best, but it is up to snuff with the other fiction in The New Yorker. The film aims to better understand what drives certain human behavior, such as creating a drug that causes subjects to be happy, horny, submissive, or depressed without lingering effects of those emotions. - michellashley - 9 May 2023
Beautiful Movie! Intense Message.
Do humans exist within a prison inside themselves? Constantly seeking satisfaction outside themselves through the physical matter in those things that might take away the spiritual dis-ease if even for a little while? Of course there are many companies that profit off the dis ease and they've even created many labels for these diseases. YET they are not the wardens of your very own prison of perception unless you give them permission through participation. The hospitals, jails, and prisons have become huge cities and the MSM have become the shepherds for the lost and confused sheep! (While being sponsored by the same companies that profit the most from human delusion.) Isn't it time to remember that the kingdom is WITHIN? Or shall they continue to give their Kingdom away to the dogs of capitalism?
