The story follows Jeff (Miles Teller), a prisoner who is undergoing experimental drug trials for a lighter sentence. Chris Hemsworth is miscast as the sunny, smarmy head of the drug trials, mostly featuring a drug that induces extreme feelings of desire and love and attachment.
The movie is simply too predictable once you acknowledge the plot elements of secret drug trials and tests of loyalty and emotions. You’ll likely foresee the movie’s big reveals far before the screenplay by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick (Deadpool, 6 Underground) reaches the obvious ploys for twists to turn author George Sanders’ more introspective, nuanced, and psychological short story into a rah-rah formula sci-fi action movie.
The first act is relatively promising and close to its source material, but the intriguing and philosophical questions about human connections, guilt, compliance, free will, and corporate hegemony are brushed aside for a silly series of action scenes, brawls, and big escapes.
Spiderhead is too predictable and feels like any over-extended Black Mirror episode, proving to be a poor follow up for director Joseph Kosinski following his brilliant work on Top Gun Maverick.
Letter Grade: F
