What could have been a daring, triple-edged film is a mediocre, streaming movie that looks more like a TV episode.
Netflix’s Spiderhead can be presented as Chris Hemsworth’s new film, and technically it is to the extent that it ticks the boxes of what should be a feature film, that is, it lasts 1 hour and 47 minutes.
It also ticks some boxes because it focuses on an interesting history concept, has decent performances, and competent production design.
But it would be very generous to call Spider head cinematographic.
Directed by Joseph Kosinski, the sci-fi thriller looks more like a minor episode Black mirror, or some other chapter contained in an anthology series. The screenplay by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick struggles to elevate the work of its original material, a short story by George Saunders.
The biggest canvas only serves to highlight how small and timid the execution is: each scene plays for a rhythm or two too long, while the whole central act tries to lengthen about seven minutes of the story without adding enough extra texture. to justify its duration.
Jeff (Miles Teller) is a prisoner serving his sentence in an isolated scientific facility located on an island archipelago. In exchange for the luxury of living in modern, stylish accommodation and dining with gourmet meals, Jeff and his cohort undergo chemical experiments.
Directed by Steve Abnesti (Hemsworth), a man whose style is inspired by Simon Le Bon and the commitment to coach comes from, well, Chris Hemsworth, the experiments involve the administration of different drugs using an implanted device on the backs of the prisoners.
Mood-altering chemicals do a variety of things to Jeff: some are seemingly innocuous, like making him laugh out of control as if he had just consumed the most powerful, or ethically dubious, pot brownies like love drug that awakens deep desires for another. person.
But other drugs are much more malicious, such as the one that causes extreme terror.
Jeff suspects that there is a greater ambition in Steve’s experiments, and the public also knows this because Steve’s assistant, Verlaine (Mark Paguio), is becoming increasingly uncomfortable with what they are doing.
All of this is wrapped up in a story about Jeff’s redemption as he tries to accept the actions that led him there in the first place, and a growing connection with his fellow prisoner Lizzy (Jurnee Smollett).
Spider head it feels like a half-done story, unable to capitalize on the intriguing seed at the center of its story. And beyond Jeff de Teller, all the other characters are little written. Great swing is never needed.
It makes you wonder which more playful sci-fi filmmaker like Patrick Somerville (Maniac, Station Eleven, Made for love), or a bolder narrator like Alex Garland could have done with the premise.
Garland, who wrote and directed Ex Machina i Annihilationis a provocateur whose imagination transcends the outer limits and could have filled the world of Spider head with a savage abandonment. Just watch his little-seen TV series criminally Developers to see how a more creative filmmaker could have expanded an idea into an experience.
As it is, the lack of brilliance Spider head it’s just a movie made for streaming that wastes its potential.
Evaluation: 2.5 / 5
Spiderhead is now streaming on Netflix
Read related topics: Netflix